My MMO experience is admittedly pretty limited. I used to be heavy into WoW, but I don’t play anymore, and I never played Everquest, or FFXI, or Dark Age of Camelot, or any other pay-to-play game. In fact, there was a time when I thought that paying a monthly fee to play a game that you already bought was insane, and was quite vocal about how dumb I thought people were for doing it. Then WoW came along, and I had to eat my words. They were delicious.

Besides my aversion to monthly fees, I was reluctant to get into WoW because I hated Warcraft 3. Real-time strategy for me feels like shoveling my driveway with a spoon while it’s still snowing. I just can’t keep up. That’s not a knock on the game, I’m sure it’s awesome. My brain just wasn’t designed to handle that kind of pressure.

I do, however, love turn-based strategy games, and Heroes of Might and Magic in particular. I have a well-documented weakness for all things involving either magic or dragons. HOMM has both. I played Heroes 3 for years, and before WoW came along, I would have said it was my favourite PC game. Heroes 4 was a big disappointment, but Heroes 5 is better, even though it’s still not as good as Heroes 3. It’s plagued with some awkward phrasing, and an embarrassing number of typos, but the actual game is really good. It gets better with every expansion.

Since we’re only a few missions (read: about 30 hours) away from finishing the last expansion of Heroes 5, I asked Chris if he’d heard anything about Heroes 6 (he is much more fastidious in checking gaming news than I am). His response: The next Heroes will be an MMO. Um, what? I had kind of a mixed bag of emotions going at this point. My immediate reaction was disappointment. I don’t have time in my life for an MMO, I just want another normal Heroes game. Following that thought, I was tentatively excited. An MMO based on a game series that I love could be pretty awesome. It all went downhill from there. Some research into the facts showed me that this game will be web-based. Which I’m not immediately against, but it seems kind of limiting. There are good web-based games out there, sure, but none with the depth and complexity that I would expect of a HOMM MMO. Also, the only way to get in on the Beta is to purchase Heroes of Might and Magic Complete Edition. This seems kind of insulting, considering that true fans of the series already own all of the chapters, and making us buy them again is just mean. On top of that, even if I wanted to shell out the cash to re-purchase things I already own, it’s only available in the UK. Thanks a lot, Ubi. I’m glad you appreciate the fact that I stuck with you guys through Heroes 4, not to mention the cut-scenes from Heroes 5. 3DO would never have done this to me.

On the other hand, it will be free to play, so I’ll probably try it out, but my expectations aren’t very high. Even though I was once very against monthly fees, I’ve come to realize that you get what you pay for. I don’t think a free MMO will be any exception. Ubi’s time would be better spent re-making Heroes 3 for me.

I am a recent convert to the Heroes of Might and Magic world. I have a heavily documented dislike for most things involving dragons or magic so I never really played HOMM I – IV. Somehow Julie convinced me to play HOMM V and I prefer not to think about the fact that I am casting spells or controlling orcs. Instead, if the games were called Heroes of Turned-Based Tactical Strategy, I would have been playing them since I was in utero. Well, maybe not that long ago.

I really like the gameplay aspects of HOMM V and its two subsequent expansions, Hammers of Fate and Tribes of the East. Aside from some absolutely horrendous bugs in the game (it’s not fun trying to equip a necessary but invisible pair of boots) and, as Julie mentioned, an unacceptable number of typos and grammar errors, the game is very enjoyable. Not being an MMO man either, I can’t imagine I’ll be rushing out to play HOMM VI until it comes out as a proper sequel. That’s right…Heroes of Turn-Based Tactical Strategy VI.