Might and Magic Heroes VI

Before you buy this game it may pay to take note of the differences between the offline and online mode for the single-player campaign.

1. Unique items called Dynasty weapons are only available in online mode. These items give relatively small initial bonuses at first but increase in power over over time (they gain XP when you use them).
2. There are also unique Dynasty traits (which are basically additional starting skills) that are also only available in online mode. These include bonuses to base stats, increased weekly creature growth, decreased building costs and other helpful hero skills.
3. At the end of the first mission the game gives you a weapon as a plot device. This weapon turns out to be a Dynasty weapon and is only available in online mode. You can view it and see the stats in offline mode but you cannot equip it. In offline mode the game also frequently reminds you when you can equip Dynasty traits even though you can't actually use them.
4. You cannot start a campaign game in offline mode, then change to online mode to access the online features part way through the campaign (and vice versa). You will have to start a new campaign from scratch to change modes.
5. Online campaign games are limited to 10 auto-saves and 10 manual-saves. These save games are stored on the Ubisoft servers and cannot be accessed at all when offline or if the Ubisoft servers are having connection difficulties. Offline mode does not have any limitations on save games.
6. You will get kicked back to the menu screen during an online game any time your internet connection is disrupted, even momentarily. You will lose all progress (e.g. If you were mid-battle) from your last save.

There are other limitations that involve the Dynasty system when it pertains to single-player custom games, however I haven't covered these. I've also tried to be as impartial as possible so you can make up your own mind about whether to buy the game or not as Ubisoft nor Mighty Ape make it clear what the differences are.

I personally think the system is ridiculous and alienates paying customers. There doesn't seem to be any good reason to restrict the Dynasty based system to being online only. I understand it has implications for online multi-player however I do not believe that single-player gamers should miss out on features if they do not want to play online. It wouldn't feel so crippled if the game did not use the Dynasty weapons as part of the plot and did not continually dangle unreachable carrots in front of you if you chose not to play online. Features that are now online only, worked fine offline in previous iterations of the series. I regret buying Heroes 6 and giving Ubisoft any money at all, I would return the game in a heartbeat if I was able to.

The game itself is great, the campaigns well laid out with all the achievements and graphics updated. The unit design feels quite balanced and being able to chat and play with friends worldwide is a bonus. Also playing online game gives you powerful dynasty weapons which levels up as your progress through the campaign.

Now onto the problems: if you have a poor internet connection that disconnects a lot like mine, don't buy this game. You will be keep getting notified to you have been disconnected to the server and return to the main menu with all the progress UNSAVED. It's very frustrating after I have won a major battle and have to play it again because I got disconnected…And if you play in the offline mode you will miss a lot of features that is online mode only such as Dynasty weapons…

The other annoying thing is that this game is full of bugs. I have heard that there are mousing flicking problems on some of the pcs and apparently it has not been fixed. There was a side quest that I could not complete because the counter went wrong so I stay 4/5 graveyard visited. Sun riders charging ability (increase in damage with more distance moved) does not work, sometimes the life drain from the lich also does not heal friendly units, sometimes you see a resource node but you can't pick it up…All these kind of these minor bugs make the game feels unpolished. It feels like this game got published without some proper of debugging. I suggested that if you want to buy the game, wait for the patch that fixes all these annoying issues.

While Might and Magic: Heroes VI appears to have some potential, Ubisoft have once more screwed over the paying customer and made sure that the pirates are the only ones who will get to actually experience their game all the way through.

Personally, when I found out it would include their ridiculous always-on DRM, I cancelled my Driver: San Francisco preorder, and I most certainly would have done the same with this had I realized it would include the same DRM.

The game is designed to ensure that those playing offline receive an extremely degraded experience, with many in-game features requiring playing online to be functional.
However playing online is only an option for those with unlimited patience, as even with a 100% functional internet connection, the connection to the server will still drop every half-hour or thereabouts, and frequently the server will either go down or simply be unconnectable for a period of time.

In short, Ubisoft continue to take the position that it's better no one enjoys their games – including the paying customers – than to allow the pirates to play for free, despite the fact that their protection is inevitable cracked or emulated given time, leaving the paying customer the only one truly affected.

Avoid this game and any other Ubisoft titles like the plague – if they're not even going to announce whether or not it will include their absurd always-on DRM ahead of time as they did with Driver: SF, boycotting Ubisoft products is the only way to ensure you aren't conned out of your hard-earned cash and left with a game that you can't even play, legally.

I find that there are a couple of changes that bug me. The simplest is that the Enter key no longer ends the turn, but starts Chat. It has long been my habit to end a turn with my thumb on the numeric pad Enter key as it is close to my mouse hand. The Enter key cannot be reassigned.
The lack of right click and hold to rotate the map, and have it remain as placed is very annoying. The map can be rotated but as soon as the key is released it snaps back to north orientation. I want to be able to follow my troops across the map, not have them moving to my left, right or whatever.
Being unable to place units before combat to protect ranged troops is a major suck IMO. It completely negates the tactics I have developed for H5 and earlier versions.
. Graphics are great but it takes more than that for good gameplay.
Having to log to an online server at Ubi to play single player games is a pita as I lost ADSL the first night I had the game and could not continue.
Overall it is playable but no as much fun as H5 or H5 ToE

Awesome game, Great followup to might and magic 5.