OK, I voted good because the fun factor was greater compared to the last beta. I like how the game is shaping up as it goes.

I read only the first 2 pages, but I have to agree with those that said they haven't noticed decisions empire-wise to have much weight. I'll go as far as to say that for me, there was no need to make those decisions. I blame this to how strong your sovereign and champions quickly become.

I played a normal and a challenging game on large maps. In both cases, I focused on giving my sovereign and champions all the +exp traits as I could, as early as I could, while taking as many goody huts and killing as many mobs as I could. So after a short time, they were far above anything the AI could manage to stop. In the meantime, I didn't have to worry about teching up (I went for whatever I thought was cool, but never had a real impact on the game), choosing what to build in my cities (I built whatever was available, but never a unit other than maybe a pioneer, given that my army of heroes was all I needed), or the economy/mana... I had excess in all those areas (I enchanted my heroes and cities but my empire had many, many shards and since I had lots cities and resources and no units to maintain, my treasury was more than wealthy).

I think this problem overshadows those mentioned like expansion having no drawbacks (which I also belive to be true), because they really don't emerge playing that way.

That said, and even though I enjoy going for the champion route and would probably do it anyway, that the units you can build seem bland to me doesn't help disuading me to do otherwise. They appear too unidimensional as opposed to how versatile and interesting heroes are. Take, for example, how AoW or Civ treats units. They gain levels like in this game, but as they do, they also gain traits and become not only more powerful, but also more interesting and versatile. In Civ, you can even "upgrade" them so they don't become obsolete later in the game (which is something I think this game direly needs). Now, you could argue that this is a strategy game and not a role playing game and you don't want to treat units as pseudo-champions, and that's fine. But so long as units are not perceived as a necessity (or you impose it somehow), then heroes will continue to dominate.

Very simple solution to city spam.

Increase the cost of pioneers 10 fold. If you have to take a city out of production 20-50 turns to increase your resources, then those resources better be well worth getting. It would make building (and protecting) pioneers an actual choice with definate downsides. The effect would be even more obvious at the beginning of the game, when you have very little lee-way with what you can produce. Also it might have the knock on effect of stopping the AI spamming them in all their armies.

As a BETA I voted Good, if it were a finished game I would have voted fair to poor. Considering how much great work you have done over these past months and that we still have several months to go before launch of the game I´m very happy with this game

Not considering the changes you already have planed for, my only concern is that I never see any need for training armies for the first 100 rounds or so (not considering pioneers or scouts). Your war tech are not high enough to produce anything but cannon fodder and your heroes are way way better in the early stages. And you can´t really focus on war tech in the beginning since you don´t have a big population (= slow research).
For me this tends to make early to mid game a game without armies and only heroes until my tech is high enough, and by then my heroes are very high level...

Maybe early war tech should be cheaper to research? Any thoughts?

Voted Fair.

The AI seems to have gotten its IQ decreased since last beta. It's not attacking anymore.

I can wipe out everyone and everything with my sov and some champs. There's very little point in training units, which is kind of sad because the unit design is a very unique feature that this game has.

City building and tech tree are just in the game because they have to be. They add little, if any, entertainment.

My suggestion is, take the boring and underdeveloped parts of the game (city building and tech tree) and make them have more impact on the fun parts (quesing, combat, exploration, wildlands). Examples: Buildings that lets you recruit monsters = fun. Buildings that give +0.5% in some stat = boring. Techs that gives you access to higher level heroes and quests = fun. Techs that enable alliances = wtf.

I voted good.

It's fun to explore, build and eventually conquer in a fantasy world filled with life. Thats cool.

I think though that the discussion Frogboy had about the decisions and how they should matter is important. City/outpost spamming in peace time, whilst leveling your sovereign to godlike status, is really the only way to go right now. And then later game I don't need all the fancy units any more because my heroes are that tough.

I voted fair. While I understand it is still a beta I feel like BETA 3 is not a big improvement over BETA 2. There are still lots of bugs and balancing issues. A lot of the obvious bugs remained from BETA 2 so to me that doesn't bode well. You guys might be saving the polishing for last but I work in software development myself and I know very well that even so it means things will never be as polished as you want them to be when it comes to down to crunch time.

After playing CIV V and HOMM VI extensively the past year, their UI's just seem to have so much more polish. Everything seems to just work. In FE we have lots of UI and grapphics issues still. My biggest one being multiple events/pop-ups firing off at the beginning of the turn and the UI just going crazy trying to keep up. Often times zooming in on the wrong thing.

But hey it is unfair comparing finished products to a beta so I will be following things extensively and am hoping for the best! I know the finished product is a long ways away. This is just one of the dangers of such an open and long beta phase--us vocal complainers!  Keep up the awsome work guys!

To get roads between cities you need to research "trading", roads to outposts are a little further out in the tree, forget which tech specifically.

The problem is that the effects scale too much:

- High level character with 150+ accuracy hits most enemies

- High level character with 80+ spell resistance is immune to many spells

- High level character with warlock and evoker traits inflicts too much damage

Solution: Reduce the scaling and the power of some traits in Fallen Enchantress

That might be what I missed too... let me see what the AI is on...

But I don't think the Champions need to be reduced in power the AI just needs to be able to level them better and equip them with the top gear they can faster so when you fight them they have some teeth.  I do like the changes so far though.  I voted fun.

My verdict: Ripe for abandonment.

Still a total lack of immersion. (just read 80% of the posts in this thread to see I am not alone with this)
And I fear it will be so at release.

I see no difference in this title compared to the last one when i comes to gameplay and immersion.
You might have sprused up graphics and added a few variables, but you are still using the same concept, the same engine and above all, the same people.
How on earth would the product be any better?

Yes there has been "big" names involved like Schafer, Blibber, Blasker and Blobb.
But it seems to me that they have added nothing but their names and expenses to the project.

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It must be what Frogboy stated earlier - this is obviously not a game for me.
And here is why:

I wish games to be an escape from everyday boredom.
Not another boring Element(al).

Okay, I just turned up the AI and the former strategy did not work out so well. So I guess the Sov is OP, but the decisions DO matter more as the game gets more difficult.

I would just like to say that most posters here who post constructive criticism stick around because they like Elemental. You on the other hand are a troll.

Brad relax, the game is coming along fine. Still tons of time until release to iron out the issues. I think you are letting the criticism get to you, but mostly that criticism is just to make the game even better.

I have never understood why game forums seem to draw so much vitriol... I think the game is coming along nicely. Although I haven't played it enough to give it a rating...