These are just a few ideas I thought of:
1.Castles should be able to hold more than one hero.
2.I feel that castles should not only be army/hero/money generators. There should be more economic buildings (housing? Garrison? Farms?) that deal with infrastructure.
3.Sea battles should be improved.eg. Onboard ballistas, grappling hooks, etc.
4. There should be more creatues, castles, artifacts and spells.
5.The combat map could do with a bit more strategy
6.I believe that creatures should not go up one ladder. There should be multiple tech trees with units with the same levels in different branches.
7.Combat effects that can actually be seen on the adventure map?
8.More interactive terrain? Well, these are my suggestions.

adieu

I am pinea from USA.
I played HOMM3 and its two expansions for quite some time. I felt that the four schools of magic are not balanced. In my opinion, the Earth magic is by far the most useful, with helpful low-level spells like slow, shield, and stone skin, wonderful movement spell: town partal, excellent resurrection spells as resurrection and animate dead, and powerful destructive spells like meteor shower and implosion. The Air magic comes the second, having useful spells like haste, lightning bolt, chain lightning, dimension door, and fly. The Fire and Water magic, on the other hand, do not have many useful spells. That is why I usually equiped all my heroes, even warriors, with earth magic, and seldom bother with the Fire and Water. I am expecting a more balanced magic system in the HOMM4. In addition, I like the idea brought out by some other players about adding ability spells to the magic system, e.g, spells granting flying, vampiric abilities.

I am dubious about adding 3D features into the game. Despite of fabulous effects 3D may bring in, there is much potential for down side as well, such as slow speed, difficulty in control, dizzling effects, etc. My suggestion is that unless 3DO is really confident that it can do a good job, keep it 2D as it is now. I also strongly agree that HOMM4, and all later sequels, should remain turn-based. It would be nightmare for me to find out one day that HOMMXX claims to be a mixture of old HOMM and some best-selling real-time game, say, age of empire.

Here are some suggestions for HeroesIV

1) About Skills
- "Sorcery" secondary skill should be changed from "more spell points" to "more spells per round" - There shall be "resistance to fire magic", "resistance to watter magic", etc. skills. Highest experience level would correspond to 75% resistance to relevant categories of spells.
- There shall be much more levels (minimum 5) per secondary skill. For instance: basic, student, experienced, advanced, expert
- When gaining a level, it shall be possible to chose among more new skills/skills improvements than just 2

2) New town:
- Insect town with following creatures: Level 1: Ant/Ant Warrior (Ant's hill) -> Walking, very low resistance, Ant Warior makes more damages than Ant Level 2: Fly/Mosquito (Swamp) -> Flying, low resistance, for Mosquito average inflicted damages per unit increases with total amount of units (this characteristic could be named: "swarm") Level 3: Beetle/Scarab (Beetle's hole) -> Walking fast, Scarab much more resistant than Beetle Level 4: Bee/Bumblebee (Hive) -> Reacting low, Flying slow, Bumblebee flies faster, makes more damages and is more resistant than bee Level 5: Wasp/Hornet (Wasp's Nest) -> Reacting fast, Flying fast, "Swarm" effect, Hornet casts "Poison" spell on attacked creatures Level 6: Mantis/Praying Mantis (Cocoon) -> Walking, Praying Mantis can cast "Slow" Spell on one group as an alternative to attack. Level 7: Tarantula/Black Widow (Spider's web) -> Walking, Black Widow can cast "Paralyse" Spell on one group as an alternative to attack.

3) New spells:
- More spell levels (at least 7) - New spell (> level 4): Name "Huricane" School: Air Magic Effect: In battle mode, violent wind blows on affected units which are pushed backwards. Number of squares depends on unit's type and caster's level in Air Magic. - New spell (> level 4): Name "Upgrade" School: Fire Magic Effect: in travelling mode, it allows to upgrade upgradeable units in the caster's army. The more experimented in Fire Magic the caster is, the more high level units he can upgrade. Cost (in mana) of the spell depends on number and level of the upgraded units. - New spell (> level 4): Name: "Speed" School: Air Magic Effect: in travelling mode, it allows to increase the speed of the caster's army and it improves speed of the caster's unit at first round of battle. Duration of the spell (in days) according to experience of the caster in Air Magic. - New spell (> level 4) Name: "Mud" School: Water Magic Effect: in battle mode, a heavy rain changes ground into mud and slows down all the walking units on the battle field. Duration of the spell (in rounds) according to experience of the caster in Water Magic.

4) About Artifacts:
- Some artifacts should be usable only once the hero has reached a certain level of experience or a certain level in relevant secondary skill(s).
- Much more "special" (undocumented) artifacts would be great. We need more surprises in campaign mode!!!

François

Hi guys!
First i think that we have right to want small change in the graffic attitude.In the Heroes 4 must have climat.By every terrain in dependance what is must have the weather condition.For example where there is snow must snowfall and where there is grass must rainfall with lightings and thunders sounds.Maybe this climat have to is changeable and to affect the tarrain like for example on the grass terrain snowfall change tarrain to snowland and so further i leave on your imagination because my english is too bad and for me is too hard to write on it :).
2.I have a sugestion for new castle except mention jungle and temple.His name may be raider or raider-cowboy.First inhabitant peaseant.Second - walker with lasso or whip.Third - rider on crocodile(anaconda).Fourth - rider on camel armed with arbalet.Fifth - Bullrider (like gorgons but biger).Sixth - rider without head (they carry his head under their armpit :) ).Seventh - Dragon riders on white or other colour dragon.
That`s it for now.I hope that i was helpfull.
See again.

Ok.
1. In HOMM4 will great, if time after time ground which we passed will hide by fog of war.
New creatures will appears in the dark in random places with artifacts that they keep.
2. Of course - NO ANY REAL-TIME!!!
3. Heroes in taverns can have more then 1 level. Say hero at level 5 will cost more then at level 1.
4. Player can customize your own monsters in addition to existent beasts (e.g. Sit Elves to a GoldDragon - this new creature in this case can shoot like elf and h-b-h like dragon.) - Let it be a new heroe's secondary skill for this (like Gelu in AB) or a new hero type, say "Selectionist" ;-).
5. For High-Level magic-users need some new Skill - Spell Creator: player can customize own special spells using all existent spells (e.g. 50%FrostRing+50%Lightning - spell that work like FrostRing with 50% damage plus 50% damage of lightning to the target square)

Best regards, Sergo.

I think it is not enough possible to personalize its heroes : I hate to have to choice between misticism and eagle eye, I would prefer to choose to receive none of these attributes. I think a fog of war would greatly increase the interest and the realism of the game. Without it, one attack give you the possibilitie to survey your opponement untill the end of the game !

I would like to choose every tipe of castle in heroes 4 without expecting having conflux castle and not hydra casle.
infact i would like more balance between every castle. My suggestion is to make the 3 upgrate in every castle so that for example hydra could defeat arcangels.
To put a new resourse like pieces of stars or something like that. It could be very fine to mix some tipe of creature each other.
there should be more balance in the choige of the secondary skills:everytime i play i always choose logistic wisdom,all the 4 magic and i never choose: learning(for me useless),armorer and offense(better if were 70 per cent),ballistic(to make this skull good ,the castlewall should be more difficult to brake),eagle eye, luck and leadership should be more than 3 bonus:good if untill 50 per cent),artillery-first aid should be united to a single skill that at expert level are indestructible.
To make the 4 level up of the scondary skills(basic,advanced,expert,master) New secondary skill or speciality:to product wood and ore or resourses in general, to control the arrow tower more than 3 and with more weapon,to pray for evoking some type of new monster that is indipendent and vanish after some day. to make different tipe of religion for different magic or skills
The last thing it is possible that magic mirror and implosion(for me with resurrection and berserk the most powerful magics)are at the same level? For me also in the magig there should me more balance" the level 3 don't have any good magic except for animate dead;blind is too powerfull for level 2,frenzy is nothing instead of town portal at level 4;there is some magic i have never used like fortune curse bloodlust and much other magic uselless. I suggest 7 or 8 level of magic.

That's all from Fabio From Milano Italy

I think heroes 4 should stay around the same type of format as heroes III(same type of play/idea), but here are some ideas to make it better.

-I like everything that Mr. Hamilton said previously (except the halfling thing) -Have an option of up to 10 or 12 different players(instead of 8).
-Have grail structures have some permanent effect (like +1 to all 4 pri. skills of any visiting hero, or +3 or 4 to 1 of them) and some siege effect as well.
-I like the ideas for the jungle and temple town that were previously mentioned.
-Fix the bugs (one I've noticed in AB and SOD is that the Naga bank gives you Sulfur, not Gems like it's supposed to).
- I think that 3D should be OPTIONAL for combat, but keep adventure screen 2D.
-Also, like in SOD, have more Combo artifacts like:
The "Orb of Magic"(reqs: Orb of the Firmament/Driving Rain/Silt/ Tempestous Fire: Increases effectiveness of all spells by 100%/ all creatures in army immune to level 1-3 spells which hinder) and The "Tome of Magic"(reqs: Tome of Earth/Air/Fire/Water Magic: Places all spells in your spell book/Causes all spells to be cast @ expert level) and "Cloak of Magic Resistance" (reqs: Garniture of Interference/Surcoat of Counterpoise/Boots of Polarity: increases Magic resistance by an extra 20 % plus casts Magic Mirror on all allied creatures @ beginning of combat).
- New Spell: Uncontiousness (causes enemy creature stack to lose rounds of turns equivalent to heroes Spell Power/ Basic: any creature stack of SP x 100 Hit points or less loses (SP)turns unless attacked or dispelled/Advanced: same as Basic except (SP x 100) + 100 Hit points or less/Expert: Same as advanced, except (SP x 100) + 200 Hit points or less.) -Just like 3 types of ideals(Good/Evil/Neutral), there should also be also be 3 different types of realms(Past/Present/Future) and have different towns based on different times: Past(up til 1800) Present(1800-2000) Future(beyond 2000)

- My Ideas for the Water town(Past):
Might Hero: Shipbuilder (3 att/1 def/1 sp/1 kn) (Level 2-9: Att:40%/Def/SP/Kn:20%) (Level 10 and up: Att/SP:30%/Def/Kn:20%)
Magic Hero: Admiral (1 att/0 def/3 sp/2 kn) (Level 2-9: Att/Def:10%/SP:45%/Kn:35%) (Level 10 and up: Att/Def/SP/Kn:25%)
On the side, have a dock raised above the water with a cobblestone base to begin with and a pier sticking out of it. For the tavern: add a Pub/Bar to that dock
For the Halls: Village: Small, one-story wooden building next to tavern Town: Larger one-story wooden building City: 2 story wooden building Capitol: 3 story wooden building Have the Fort be a huge warship(majestic like a Spanish Armada Ship)
For the Citadel, make make ship look a little bit fancier/add cannon to center For Castle, add cannons to outward edges of ship. Have the gate be a plank that can be raised or lowered.
For Mage Guild(MG for short): have a potion shop next to Town Hall building, and just add strories to it for increasing levels.
For Market place/Resource silo, same type of marketplace like the fortress has.
For Blacksmith, have a tent, floating on a log raft around the market place
For Shipyard, build another pier, but closer to the water level Have a lighthouse, w/same effect as Castle lighthouse, built on a rocky base sticking out of the water.
For Creature Generators: Building:Creature(special) Upg. Building:Upg Creature W - Walker, F - Flyer, R - Ranged Attacker
- Level 1: Junk: Slinger(ranged attack with slingshot) (C)ost: 35 g/5 H, 4 A, 2 D, 1-3 Dam, 12 (Sh)ots, 4 (Sp)eed, R Freight Junk: Halfling(ranged attack but with rotten tomatoes and has 25% chance of making selected creature stack ill(like Zombies do)) C: 40 g/5 H, 5 A, 3 D, 1-3 Dam, 24 Sh, 5 Sp, R +14 growth
-Level 2: (requires Junk) Fisherman's Boat: Fisherman C: 130 g/14 H, 6 A, 5 D, 2-4 Dam, 6 Sp, W Whaler's Boat: Whaler(ranged attack spears) C: 170 g/14 H, 7 A, 5 D, 2-4 Dam, 8 Sp, 18 Sh, R Fishermans Nets(+5 growth per week) +9 growth
- Level 3: (requires Junk/MG 1) Viking Galley: Rowers(w/Oar for weapon/"Knock Out Attack" - has 50% chance of casting "Uncontiousness" on attacked creature stack for 1 turn regardless of enemy stack's hit points) C: 220 g/20 H, 8 A, 6 D, 3-5 Dam, 9 Sp, W Egyptian Galley: Oarmen(same as Rowers except for 2 turns/have 2 sided oar for weapon and therefore 2 attacks per turn/2nd attack will not dispel if happens on first attack) C: 240 g/20 H, 8 A, 7 D, 3-5 Dam, 10 Sp, W +8 growth
-Level 4: (requires Galley) Warship: Deck Seaman(If Captain or Commodore in army - 35% chance of doing double damage) C: 350 g/35 H, 10 A, 8 D, 6-10 Dam, 6 Sp, W Battleship: Sailor(same as Deck Seaman,except 70% chance) C: 400 g/35 H, 11 A, 9 D, 6-10 Dam, 8 Sp, W +4 growth
- Level 5: (requires Warship) Crow's Mast: Hawk(gives +1 scouting radius @ sea/if hero has navigation skill effects are as follows: Basic: +2 scouting radius/Advanced:+3 scouting radius/ Expert: +4 scouting radius) C: 600 g/50 H, 12 A, 12 D, 11-15 Dam, 9 Sp, F Eagle's Mast: Bald Eagle(same as Hawk/+1 luck to all troops in army) C: 700 g/50 H, 13 A, 12 D, 13-16 Dam, 11 Sp, F +3 growth
-Level 6: (requires Galley) Pirate Ship: Pirate(have 30% chance of robbing random artifact from enemy hero/if unsuccessful - no enemy retaliation) C: 1200 g/110 H, 16 A, 13 D, 20 D, 6 Sp, W Pirate Galleon(also reqs. MG 2): Buccaneer(same as Pirate with 60% chance/if unsuccessful - no enemy retaliation) C: 1600 g/110 H, 16 A, 13 D, 30 D, 8 Sp, W Plank: (+1 growth per week) +2 growth
-Level 7: (Requires Pirate Ship) Schooner:Captain(+1 morale to allied troops/surrendering cost upg. by 50%) 2500 g + 1 Crys/200 H, 25 A, 25 D, 40-50 Dam, 6 Sp, W Frigate(also reqs MG 3): Commodore(same as Captain/-1 morale to all enemy troops/inability for enemy to retreat(but can still surrender @ upg. cost)) 5000 g + 2 Crys/300 H, 30 A, 30 D, 40-50 Dam, 8 Sp, W +1 growth For Grail structure: Have a huge glass of wine or mug of beer placed on top of tavern structure. Brings +2 luck and morale to all allied heroes and +10 Attack and Spell Power of a garrison hero when defending against a siege.

-I think some kind of Prehistoric town with Cavemen and various levels of dinosaurs should be added. Maybe a Wild West town with Sheriffs, Outlaws, Buzzards, and Horses should be added. Maybe some kind of Ancient Asia, or Persia, maybe even a bustling Metropolis town. Now, I know some these ideas may sound a little goofy, or out of whack. But I'm sure that everyone of us that have ideas for this game has a couple things that everyone else thinks is weird. I'll leave it at that.

First i want to say THANKS for this cool game!
I have same ideas for Heroes4,but now i want to say one of them.You must make the sea battles like real game battles.Boat to boat must shooting one other when they near like the sea combat.
It`s be reaaly cool, trust me.
Your faintly fan Veselin

Alright, a few quick suggestions for HOMM4 from a couple of real fans!

-1. Improve the Eagle Eye Skill: Right now the skill has no teeth. Give heroes a greater chance to learn better spells, maybe even during battle. Some one might actually use this skill
-2. Loyalty scores: I would like to see loyalty scores for heroes, and even units. These scores would determine how hard armies fight, whether they will all return when beaten, and even if they might be convinced to join an enemy by a really good diplomat. I would like to see a prison cart for captured heroes and a prison structure in towns. Heroes who are successfully captured could either be executed after a waiting period, escape, or be convinced to join their captor army.
-3. Improved School of War: I would like to see a school of war available at all towns which allows for training of troops. Weaker units could be placed in this school along with a skilled hero and could be trained in the heroes skills over time. This could bring several new layers to troops under a hero's command. Heroes would need a special secondary skill to train troops, maybe "trainer" or "teacher." When combined with other skills, a trainer with archery expertise could train weaker units such as peasants and upgrade them over time to archers. A hero with sorcery could train lesser units to be endowed with magical powers. These units would be displayed as guarding the castle and could be pulled out of the school for defense if needed.
-4.Generic Heroes and Promotion: I would like to see multiple "generic hero" portraits for each type of unit (i.e. stone golem face, dendroid face) These could then be used in my system of promotions... Have you ever had a unit stand out again and again against incredible odds and thought to yourself "this is a genuine hero"? I would like to see a way to promote the top member of one of these loyal units. He or she would take a generic portrait from their unit class and could become a "lieutenant" hero. This hero would be granted some special skills according to their unit type, and would be given some of the experience from battles they have faced. Maybe a lieutenant hero could fight on the same battlefield as a general (on a smaller horse :o) but be in charge of only a small number of units determined by their skill level. When these units come up, the lieutenant hero would have a chance to use some of his/her own lower level magic. A loyal lieutenant hero could eventually be promoted to full general on their own merits.
-5.Multiple Heros and Joint Attacks: I don't know how this would be set up, but if there are two armies right next to each other and one is attacked, both should get to fight on the battlefield. It just makes sense.
-6.Ambush!: Heroes with advanced tactics should be able to hide some units before the battle. The units could ambush enemy troops with increased attack skills
-7.Multiple Boats: I definately like the idea of various levels of boats, ballistas and aid tents.
-8.Weapons Purchassing: How about weapons upgrades in the blacksmith shop? You could choose to arm your archers with various bows with different characteristics and price range. Your pikemen could use various metals or strengths or lengths of pike. When new units of the same type join your army you would have the option of letting them keep their own weapons or changing them to match your own. An upgraded blacksmith shop could provide armor sales.
-9.Hero Shopping: I would like to see many more people available in the taverns with varying skill levels and price tags. You could get some old retired captain with no troops and few skills for much cheaper than you could get an experienced general with a mercenary army. There would be a lot of strategy involved, perhaps you would look for the hero with the highest loyalty rating. -10. No Halflings! They look just like little kids. My soft hearted father feels guilty whenever he kills them, and their little feet are sticking up in the air.
-11. Better catapaults Am I the only one out there who can't get the stupid thing to hit where I aim it?!!
-12. Tavern "non-heroes" Maybe there should be people to recruit in a tavern besides heroes. You could hire a head carpenter who aids in construction, an advisor to help with money matters, spies and rogues to infiltrate enemy towns, sailors, mapmakers etc.
-13. New Spells
a) "Neutralize" spell: Removes special abilities (ie regeneration, poison, aging,double damage) from the targeted enemy stack.
b)Dishonesty: makes an enemy's rogues give inaccurate information
-14. New Towns:
Jungle Town Here's a definate vote for the jungle town, and a quick outline of units -1- Pygmies, upgrade to Pygmy Warriors -2-Pygmy Archers, upgrade to Pygmy Braves -3- Boars (already neutral unit), upgrade to Chargers (20% chance of stunning an opponent into losing a turn) -4- Witch Doctor, upgrade to Voodoo Priest (range unit of some kind) -5- Rhinocerous, upgrade to Black Rhinocerous (blinds opponent) -6- Tiger, upgrades to White Tiger -7- Elephant, upgrades to War Elephant (breaks walls and obstacles)
Temple town -1- Acolyte, upgrade to Blessed Acolyte -2- Believers, upgrade to Fanatics (good moral) -3- Defenders, upgrade to Chosen Defenders (range unit) -4- Spirit, upgrade to Spirit Warrior (flying unit) -5- Converts (large ogre-like unit, suceptible to hypnotize) -6- Priests, upgrade to High Priests (10% chance of hypnotize) -7- Temple Diety, upgrade to Supreme Diety (moves through all obstacles weakens or blinds enemy units, fire attack on all adjacent units) The temple would have special structures including an alter of sacrifice, and of course an improved mage guild
-15. New Artifacts -1- Pendant of divine protection: defeated heroes automatically retreat to allied tavern -2- Crystal Ball: allows heroes to look into an enemy castle within a certain range.
-16. New Neutrals -1- Viking bands -2- Convicts -3- Vultures?
-17. Demolition When taking an enemy castle (one that you don't think you can hold) heroes should be given the option of destroying one structure per day and recovering some of the resources used to build the structure.... for a price
- 18. "Non-Hero" tag-alongs: This one comes right out of Might and Magic VII. Armies could bring along as many as two specialists hired in taverns or picked up along the way. Specialists could grant primary or secondary skills or could be experts in finance, demolition etc. That's all for now, I hope there's something in there which can be used.

suggestions for heroes 4 :

-First of all, i would like no bugs. especially bugs that quit the game to Windows. it really sucks and armageddon blade has still few one.
-Like many others: no 3D, it 'll ruin the game and it should be less beautiful because of the 3D hardware of today. then we wants 2D with high resolutions (1024) and perhaps better special effects. 3D could be used only for combats. -More and more maps for multiplayer. more XL maps.
-In combat, the heroe could give more advantage than his spells.
-The environment in combat should be far more detailed: we should recognize places. full environments with scenaries.
-More cities, a water city is a good idea.
-Balanced cities
-Eliminate many 1 level artifacts that are useless (protecton against one particular spell)
-Great musics. its very important.
-No real time, it 'll ruin the game like 3D.
-Improve the mutliplayer gaming because waiting and waiting is boring. but i've no ideas how it could be done.
-Possiblity to create paths for weeks. heroes could follow them to take ressources on map.
-Possibility of diplomacy with other players, but not with all. in age of empire II you could be fight against everybody because they all have done alliance (i mean for IA) it souldn't arrive.
Keep the fantastic environment of HOMM, no future ...
-improve the random map generator with more options.

Here my suggestions for HOMM 4:

1. Use only creatures from real mythology, like somone said before in this forum.
2. The neutral castles and creatures are ugly in HOMM 3, improve that in HOMM 4.
3. One should be able to delete saved games from within the game.
4. There should be more castle types and creatures. I think 7 levels of creatures are enough, but there should be twice as much castle types in HOMM 4 compared to in HOMM 3. I like the idea stated by a russion to have a jungle castle, or the idea to have a water castle, which someone suggested. But the creatures have to be from real mythology.
5. Don't add much more spells, artifacts and secondary skills, its enough.
6. Maybe it would be good to make HOMM 4 a little bit like Age of Empires, which means to build structures in order to have heroes travel larger distances on land and on sea. "Research wheel" or "research navigation" could be a solution.
7. The graphics in HOMM 2 have been in a lower resultion, but I liked them more. The atmosphere they provided was more comfortable. The graphics in HOMM 3 look too much rendered.
8. I also liked the music in HOMM 2 more than in HOMM 3, it provided a better atmosphere. If the music in HOMM 4 will be in mp3 again, it should be encoded in 256 bit instead of 128 bit.
9. Especially in the beginning i misclicked very often when being in the castle. This is because the buildings are too small and there is too much other things around them which are irritating. Make it as easy as it was in HOMM 2 or provide an alternative way to build buildings.
10. The scrolling of the map is not smooth at all (if you compare it to Commandos for example). It would be good to be able to zoom in and out like in Commandos.
11. If one has finished a part of a campaign, he should be given a password so that he can continue that campaign even if he reinstalled the game.
12. Don't make the game more complicated.
13. Don't haste to release HOMM 4, use plenty of time to make it a worthy sequel.
14. Provide on your homepage a new (free downloadable) complete PDF-manual whenever you changed something in the game, and not only a *.txt file. Update the homepage often (and not only adding a new patch to it)

Hi!
In heroes 4 I want that the grail should produce some really powerful creature. It is kinda like the one who wanted a blood titan idea. The obelisks should also be guarded by some creatures. i also have two suggestions of new creatures.
The first is a level 9 creature: Stone dragon. it has an attack skill of 30,defense 40, hit points 600 and damage 40-60.
The other one is a mixture of the angel and devil: Savage angel. one devil and one angel mix into one savage angel.