Hello I am still new here, but tried to play one map in Beta yesterday and here is what I can comment so far.
Being a firm believer that HOMM3 is the best in series by far, I think this VII Beta is on the right track.
I have played 1 Large map 1v1 on easy mode. Academy, might Hero (the one that specialises in Rakshasa)
Most of my observations will be done from active player's of Heroes 3 standpoint.
- Movement of Heroes, especially when they have exploration movement bonuses should be more, quite a bit. H3 was good cos you could be very mobile later in the game.
- Large map took me roughly 5 hours to finish with 1 opponent, which is way too long. Opponent moves have to be much faster, Heroes need to cover more terrain. Quick combat should be done in a way that it is perfectly viable in Easy and Normal mode against Neutrals and weak enemy Heroes. I really do not want to lose time on clearing mobs.
- Quick combat cannot be used against enemy Heroes no matter how weaker they are, this is nonsense and a clear waste of time. This option should be available, it is the players choice.
- while building creature dwellings in town, it is not possible to see creatures' stats and abilities
- abilities and stats of creatures in Hero's army cannot be seen while in town screen
- Getting more magic power stat, is not increasing the damage of my Hero's spells (played Academy might Hero but this should not make a difference)- more magic power= more magic damage no?
- does this game have Dimension door spell implemented in the highest magic tier?
- opponent AI- a bit too stupid even for easy mode. He didn't pick up all the resources lying around, no resource mines taken after 2 months.
- For easy mode I think resources were adequate, Academy buildings and creatures require quite a bit of gold, I have to see how it is on higher difficulties.
- I am glad the game is not ridiculously difficult on easy, like H6 was.
- Nagas from H3 are much more appealing creatures than Rakshasa.
- Maps in H3 feel a bit more open, in H7 maps feel cramped and claustrophobic.
TL;DR Game tempo is slow, has to be faster, XL map in Heroes 3 needs around 3 hrs to finish, it should be similar here.
But compared to H4-H6 this is done pretty well so far.
Will play more and will write further observations