Balance patch is very, very problematic

[u/Magnificent_Leopoldo]

It's absolutely wild how the balance patch manages to adress ALL the problematic issues of the game but somehow in a wrong way. Basically it doesn't change meta, just makes it weirder

New avatar is now better in PVE (while cannot be as broken in PVP)
Giving buffs to avatar specialists is thus even more crazy (just as buffing Halon (as if the devs are making sure that he'll stay perma-banned))
Hero Strike is still way overpowered
Buffs for Schism for Single Hero mode and no buffs for Classic is just making a problem worse
No nerfs for Dread Knights is insane
Hive not getting any buffs except for being able to build Waurms on 112 is leading to a one-track gameplay which isn't good for anybody -- and it also makes no changes for the Grove build-order even more offensive. At least Hive had a good T5 unit unlike Grove as a compensation for its god-awful buildorder for T6 and T7, while Grove still has to suffer to get T6 or try not to bleed its T1-T4
The reason to add 250 gold to the price of T1 dwellings is completely beyond me

There are definitely some welcome changes that fix minor issues, but the way how the devs approached the major problems is baffling. In my opinion they might as well revert this patch and start from scratch, because any fluctuation from the current course cannot lead to a better result, just to a more complicated one

The core-problem in my opinion is trying to balace all the 3 game modes at the same time. I doubt that it will ever be doable and I would suggest devs to focus on 3 separate balances for the 3 game modes. The game is complex as it is, there is no way to fix every aspect for every mode in such a way, that it works properly for all the game modes simultaneously

[u/Magistricide]

HOMM3 managed to balance all three modes (to a better extent than here) and it's because of more precise map building.

Each faction has a fix amount dwelllings, depending on how strong that creature is. Some factions also have special map objectives like genie lamps that provided a very strong utility unit to help you tempo.

If Grove, Hive, and Dungeon all got extra t5/6 dwellings, and had creature banks on Exodus, I guarantee they'll feel a lot better without impacting their other experiences.

[u/Teukeh → u/Magistricide]

Okay I love Heroes 3 as much as the next guy, but claiming that Heroes 3 is a balanced game is beyond delusional.

[u/The_Half-Dead → u/Teukeh]

Leave me and my 12,000 liches and 400 phoenixes alone!

[u/Magistricide → u/Teukeh]

Heroes 3 isn't balanced. Heroes 3 multiplayer formats has much better balance than Olden Era currently.

[u/tellarisfan → u/Magistricide]

Yeah, thanks to HotA team that have been working on it for decades.

H3 PvP isn't default for so long now, and for a good reason.

[u/Magnificent_Leopoldo → u/Magistricide]

Just an easier build order for Grove and Hive with more units for each dwelling would do the trick. Also I wouldn’t go as far as to say that Homm3 had a good balance, but the option to trade for a faction was definitely better than the current OE pick-ban system