History YMMV / HeroesOfMightAndMagic

*** Some of the criticism of the sixth game is in this vein.

*** Speaking of the AI, check [[http://www.celestialheavens.com/viewpage.php?id=453 here]] if you want a laugh.

* BrokenBase: Oh so much. ''Heroes IV'': an interesting unorthodox take or a DorkAge best forgotten? ''Heroes V'': a breath of fresh air or a buggy and unoriginal remake of III in 3D? ''Heroes VI'': Is it going to be the best or worst installment ever? Ashan: a valiant effort to clean up the ContinuitySnarl of the NWC era, or a bland and generic fantasy world? Practically every mention of Ubisoft or Nival is bound to have split opinions among the fanbase. Even the overall well-liked third game gets this occasionally for its ArtShift from the more fairy-talish visuals of the first two games to a RealIsBrown palette.

* CrowningMomentOfFunny: Sir Christian's entire campaign in ''Armageddon's Blade''. The tale of a perfume salesman with some military training trying to get home after being shipwrecked on an island chain populated entirely by nutcases.

* DemonicSpiders: Phoenixes in V. Fast, powerful, and a permanent fire shield that damages any unit that attacks it. [[ItGotWorse Even worse]], when the stack is destroyed, it ''resurrects on the spot'' (because, you know, phoenix).

** There's a large sect of fans who despise anything that's even slightly different from HoMM II and HoMM III.

*** Loynis one of the closest in III. Starts with pumped up Prayer spell - decently strong buff of 4th level increasing attack, defense and speed. So basically its a three spells in one. With water magic expert it buffs whole your army instead of single unit by 4 stats and usually that also means you have mass dispel in your spellbook too. Funny part is Loynis increase effect of prayer by 1 per his every level, effectively making it 5 times stronger by level 20. Unsurprisingly it makes your army wipe floors with everything comes in their way.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: Heroes of Might and Magic III is one of the most popular games in Russia.

* {{Squick}}: Thralsai, leader of the dark elf Soul Scar clan in ''Hammers of Fate'' has a line that wouldn't sound strange coming from one of the [[{{Warhammer40000}} dark eldar]]:

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: Part of the reason the fourth game wasn't so well received was because it completely retooled everything in the series. Combat, unit production, and hero development were all changed. Oh, and it blew up the previous games' setting. The fifth game saw a return to the third's style of gameplay -- and was promptly criticized for removing the few changes that ''were'' well received in the fourth, such as caravans (these returned in the expansions).

*** The Conflux faction in III is really overpowered. So much so that it is ''banned'' from official tournaments!
*** In fairness to the Conflux, it was assembled quickly to replace the Forge when fans demanded that it be changed. If it had a bit more time, then maybe it wouldn't have been so game breaking.

* HighOctaneNightmareFuel: In the first three games, if you lost a map, you'd be treated to a scene of your own execution, either by the guillotine (I and III) or the sight of your abandoned skeleton in a cage that was hanging off a tree (II), complete with music to [[ItsAWonderfulFailure further emphasize your failure]].

* GrowingTheBeard: YourMileageMayVary, but while the fifth game and its first expansion suffered from lackluster storytelling, ''Tribes of the East'' featured better writing, a new level of strategy thanks to alternate upgrades, another new town, and several other tweaks to the gameplay. It also didn't hurt that ''Tribes of the East'' was a stand-alone product.

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: Part of the reason the fourth game wasn't so well received was because it completely retooled everything in the series. Combat, unit production, and hero development were all changed. Oh, and it blew up the previous games' setting. The fifth game saw a return to the third's style of gameplay -- and was promptly criticized for removing the few changes that ''were'' well received in the fourth, such as caravans (these returned in the expansions). YourMileageMayVary on whether or not the fourth was a good game in its own right.

* GameBreaker: The Necropolis' vampire in every game. The upgraded versions in the third and fifth game as well as the vampire in the fourth game combine decent stats for their tier, the ability to fly/teleport on the battlefield, no enemy retaliation, and the ability to heal and revive their numbers when attacking living units.
** Actually, the vampire's power is just due to the rather bizarre way to balance the Necropolis, where outstandingly strong creatures are "balanced out" with laughably weak ones.
** The third game's ''Armageddon's Blade'' expansion introduces four neutral dragon units. Each is in a tier of their own and they are ''obscenely'' powerful. How powerful? The strongest one, the azure dragon, costs ''30000 gold and 20 mercury'' to recruit from its dwelling. And that's a ''bargain''. Its special ability is to ''scare its enemies shitless''. Usually falls under AwesomeButImpractical due to the staggering cost, however.
*** To put that into perspective, 30000 gold and 20 Mercury (or an equivalent) can recruit about 6 or more titans (the strongest final tier unit of any town), build a Castle, Capitol, and final-tier creature dwelling, or buy you a week's worth of troops. In effect, you can buy a town or a whole army for the equivalent cost of a single azure dragon!
** Ultimate skills in V. Sure, they require a very specific skill development and levels out of reach in smaller games... but once you have them, you pretty much won the game, at least most of them. How about guaranteed luck on each and every action (and 25% more damage, too)?
** Deleb, one of the random Inferno heroes in V. Her special ability is ridiculously powerful in the early-game and remains useful in the mid and late-game. It got nerfed, but as everyone else she also got more perks for the ballista.
** Dark elves in ''V'' can empower spells, increasing damage by expending more mana. Sinitar has the catalyst ability, reducing the magic he spends when empowering a spell. With the right combination of gear and spells, (arcane training, erratic mana and ring of Sar-issus to lower mana costs, Runeforce items, warlock's luck and Rage of the Elements for extra damage), Sinitar can inflict a lot of damage on his opponents with very little cost.
** The Puppetmaster, Blind, and Frenzy spells in ''V'' (yes, ''V'' has quite a few gamebreakers). Careful use of these three spells will cripple even the strongest armies.

** Arcane archers in ''V''. They are third tier, and so can be acquired easily and early, and have the highest damage of any ranged unit when accounting for their weekly growth. Oh, and they deal full damage even at long range, and take into account only half of the victim's defence. [[GlassCannon They die quickly]], but can do horrendous amounts of damage to much higher tier units before this happens.
** The Stronghold faction in ''V'' has a particularly deadly late-game strategy. One stack of untamed cyclopses + 6 stacks of orc chieftains increasing their initiative (thereby giving them more turns in battle) = CurbStompBattle.
** Genies in the 1st and 2nd game. Any attack from a stack of genies (even a stack of ''one'') has a chance of ''halving'' the target enemy stack's numbers. Mitigated by the fact that genies are exceptionally rare, and don't repopulate every week.
*** Death knights take a similar role in ''V''. Usually chances are calculated by comparing the total hitpoints of the involved stacks, but death knights always have a 25% chance. They are even harder to get than genies, though.
*** Nevermind genies and death knights, the dragons of the first game are much stronger than any of the other uniques of the other factions. Any wizard who can muster enough treasure to support them and secure access to a sulphur mine can storm his way through any other factions armies without too much difficulty.
*** The dragons' dominance continued in Heroes II, though the titans did provide some resistance, [[http://www.heroesofmightandmagic.com/heroes2/titanvsdragon.shtml though some speculate that it's not enough.]]
**** [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in one of the random rumors you can hear at the tavern: "A Black Dragon will take out a Titan any day of the week."
** How about Town Portal in ''II'' and ''III''? It allows you to instantly teleport to ''any'' town you own, so not only you can pick the most powerful creatures from each town, but also get the bonuses all grant (increased stats, extra mana, movement, etc, etc). On top of that, it makes the surroundings of all your towns incredibly dangerous places even if there is no one around. Combine with Dimension Door, and there you go, instant doom for anything foolish enough to pop up in the map.
*** Only if you have Advanced or Expert Earth Magic, though.

** ''V'' also has a spell that lets you teleport your army a short distance on the world map. It allows you to bypass any obstacles, including campaign-specific gates that are supposed to shield "invulnerable" enemy cities from your wrath.
*** In the campaigns, this spell can't be learned in mage guilds for precisely this reason.
*** It also takes up half your day's movement, so it can only be cast twice in one turn. Contrast this with ''III'', where it took the equivalent of moving one tile.
** Training (which allows you to upgrade lower tiered units into higher ones - turning a peasant into an archer into a footman into a priest into a cavalier) for the Haven faction in V, before it was put back to slightly less game breaking levels in the expansions. On paper it doesn't look all that broken, as it costs triple of what the unit normally would - until you realise it's possible to get enough artifacts to reduce the upgrade cost to nothing, giving you the ability to turn all of your peasants into cavaliers ''for free''.
** Dark Messiah was infamous for how kicking enemies into convenient traps/pitfalls became way more effective than anything else.
** The Conflux faction in III is really overpowered. So much so that it is ''banned'' from official tournaments!

** All those examples pale in comparison with the "Cloak of the Undead King" artifact in Shadow of Death. Yes, it needs several artifacts assembled to begin with, but allows a hero with the Necromancy skill to raise, instead of Skeletons, Walking Deads, Wights or even ''Liches'', a level 5 shooter.
** The Combat skill tree in IV. Particularly the main skill, increasing the Hero's physical defense that it would need at least a dozen top-tier units to challange him/her alone. Add to that the Magic Resistance secondary skill, that grants full immunity against hostile spells and spell-like effects at its highest level. Did I mention there is only one negative status effect (stun) that is not considered magical in nature?

* DisContinuity: Many fans don't want anything to do with the entries that came after Heroes III.

** I personally can't see how people see the graphics in III as RealIsBrown. Sure, the colors may not be as gaudy as they are in other installments, but they are still a far cry from being "brown".

** Of course his actions are lessened by the fact that the victims are suffering from TooDumbToLive syndrome.

* Discontinuity: Many fans don't want anything to do with the entries that came after Heroes III.

** The [[AIIsACrapshoot AI was absolutely atrocious]]. Often it would not have even fully explored its home area by the endgame, and you would often find the mass graves of dead heroes who kept futilely attacking the same powerful neutral stack. The worst? There is chance that you will find the hero you need to kill already dead. This is reason why people at Gamefaqs add ''instant win'' cheats in the walkthrough -- you might need it.

* NightmareFuel: In the first three games, if you lost a map, you'd be treated to a scene of your own execution, either by the guillotine (I and III) or the sight of your abandoned skeleton in a cage that was hanging off a tree (II), complete with music to [[ItsAWonderfulFailure further emphasize your failure]].
* TheScrappy: The fact that Celestial Heavens has [[http://www.celestialheavens.com/viewpage.php?id=1180452097 "The Queen Isabel Kicking Game"]] is proof that she's considered the Scrappy.