Recommended turn order based on play times:

Some players like gab, cbower (when he was here), Lightform, me for those I know can level up to lvl 15 very quickly, and reach lvl 15 around turn 15 with certain class/race. Players who make it to lvl 11 or 13 around turn 15-20 and thus unlock the top abilities are even more numerous.
The pace of hero leveling is currently much faster than the pace of production and summoning. For instance, it's hard to produce or summon a good combat stack with some T3 before turn 25-30. But you can easily get a good combat stack by reaching lvl 11 with Theo or Necro and mind controlling your enemies. You can also easily get stacks with very good stack boosts like Blood Brothers or Divine Justicar and then do high-level sites and snow ball (with units, items and techs).
The aim of slowing down hero leveling is to bring it in line with the pace of production and summoning so that games are not won through heroes but through heroes, production, summoning, skills at the tactical and strategic level.

+10% or +20% is clearly not enough. We need to move lvl 15 to at least turn 30 so that's +100%. Of course, in some games, that will mean nobody ever reach lvl 15 (like in my current 4x2 game, we're turn 47 and nobody is lvl 15 but that's mainly because cbower left) but actually in some cases (including that 4x2 where I'm AD so prefer to give XP to my animals which can evolve), the pace of leveling is also determined by the choice between giving XP to your units or to your heroes.
So the proposed scale of levels aims to:
- keep more or less the same pace of leveling up to lvl 5 (and even to lvl 7), to make it easy for new heroes to bridge the gaps with older heroes and because there is no issue pre-level 5
- slow down lvl 9 (Convert for Theo, Ghouling Strike for Necro)
- significantly slow down lvl 11 (Divine Justicar for Theo, etc.) and above (top abilities at lvl 13)

That would be a drastic change and would probably require some adjustments after it's made (if it is).

I do not like GC23, however, before I vote against it I want to hear the rational for such a significant change. 50% more experience required to get to level 11 is significant. Why such a large increase? Why not 10 or 20%? Does this help us achieve our goal of balancing?

=== 2017 PBEM Duel Tournament ===
Registrations opened on 15 October and we currently have 13 players registered! Please join here: https://www.the-battlefield.c... />

=== Balance ===
We are getting close to finalizing the changelog for v1.2 thanks to the contributions of several of you and especially mauvebutterfly, marcuspers, Jean de Metz, Eskild, Skuns453Lirik902, Shakey and more recently Hellbrick!

Here are new priority changes for which we need feedback to confirm if we include them in v1.2 or not (please check the summary table for more details, check the "Comment" column https://docs.google.com/docum... />GC19
T4 all have Mind Control Immunity

GC20
Skilled Adventurer’s Slingshot (Common) has Slingshot and Animal Slayer (was Slingshot and Befriend Animal)
Siren’s Musical Box is Epic-rarity and  has Siren’s Vail (was Strong rarity and had Seduce)
Ashes of the Reaper (Epic) has Turn Undead, Undead Slayer and Energy Drain (was Control Undead)
Karissa’s Perfume (Legendary) has Cause Berserk (Medium Range, cast Berserk on target enemy unit) (was Seduce)
Divine Sceptre of the Theologian (Mythical) has Weaken and, once per battle, can give Instant Wrath to target touched unit (was Convert + Weaken)
Meandor’s Autobiography (Mythical) has High Elf Slayer + Human Slayer + Black Bolts + Invoke Death (was High Elf Slayer + Human Slayer + Black Bolts + Inflict Ghoul Curse)

GC21
Items produced in the Arcane Item Forge can add the following abilities: Lesser Charm, Lesser Befriend Animal, Lesser Control Undead, Lesser Seduce (was Charm, Befriend Animal, Control Undead, Seduce)
Lesser Seduce has spirit strength 10

GC22
Items produced in the Arcane Item Forge which gives mind-control abilities, immobilization abilities (Entangling Touch, Freezing Touch, Petrifying Touch, Stunning Touch,  Webbing Touch) or Healing are associated to Weapon items (were associated to Use items)

GC23
Heroes and leaders now require more experience to level up, with 25% more time needed to reach level 5, +40% to reach level 9, +72% to reach level 13, +88% to reach level 15 and then +400 XP / level instead of +200 XP / level
(See full details in this XP table)

Fi01
Domain of the Sun costs 160 RP, 50 CP and 20 mana/turn (was 180 RP, 70CP, 30 mana/turn).

Fi02
Domain of the Sun gives +1 fire damage to allied units in the enchanted city’s domain.

Fi03
Tropical Empire costs 310 RP, 60 CP and 30 mana/turn (was 350 RP, 80CP, 40 mana/turn).

Fi04
Tropical Empire gives Inflict Immolation to units in your domain.

Cr01
Domain of Life costs 160 RP, 40 CP and 15 mana/turn (was 180 RP, 60CP, 20 mana/turn).

Cr03
Temperate Empire costs 310 RP, 60 CP and 30 mana/turn (was 350 RP, 80CP, 40 mana/turn).

De01
Domain of Corruption costs 160 RP, 40 CP and 15 mana/turn (was 180 RP, 60CP, 20 mana/turn).

De02
Domain of Corruption gives +1 Blight damage to allied units in the enchanted city’s domain.

De03
Blight Empire costs 310 RP, 60 CP and 30 mana/turn (was 350 RP, 80CP, 40 mana/turn).

Wt01
Artic Empire costs 310 RP, 60 CP and 30 mana/turn (was 350 RP, 80CP, 40 mana/turn)



Old ones:

AD17
Independent Spiders and Serpents lose the Evolve ability (only summoned and produced units keep it)

Ne06g
Ghouling Strike does not give any damage bonus (was +5 physical, +5 blight)

Ne09a
Energy Drain has a physical strength 10 (was spirit strength 10)


Ne13b
Raise Corpse can reanimate only corpse of previously alive units (not corpses of Undeads)

Ne14
Devour Corpse heals 20 HP (was 25 HP)

Ne15
Undeads that attack a unit with Necromantic Aura get “Immune to Necromantic Aura” (cannot be dispelled) if the Aura fails its 7 spirit attack check on them. Units with “Immune to Necromantic Aura” cannot be affected by it. 

Ne16
Whispers of the Fallen cannot appear in the Research Book or be already researched at the beginning of the game

Ne17
Whispers of the Fallen is Tier 2 and costs 120 RP (was Tier 1 and 60 RP)

Ne18
Whispers of the Fallen provide 2 RP per unit tier for each unit killed in combat. Fallen Heroes provide 10 RP (was 3 RP per unit tier and 15 RP)

Ro06a
Rogue heroes and leaders can choose Antiserum for 4 points at level 5. Antiserum can be used once per battle on a Poisonned unit (touch ability): it heals 10 HP and gets 100% Blight Protection for one round.
Antiserum does not heal units on the strategic map

Ro09
Rogue heroes and leaders can now choose Assassin’s training: all units in the stack now have Backstab (stackable with other Backstab) – cost 7, available at level 11

Ro15
Rogue heroes and leaders’ Charm is a touch ability (was Short range)

Th05
Divine Justicars costs 12 points (was 10)

Wa09
Death March causes units getting extra movement to become Tired until the end of the (strategic) turn.
Tired units get -50% movement in tactical combat

Wa11a
Scout Death March (new spell) can be researched for 140 RP, is tier II and cost 20 CP to cast. It affect only Irregulars (excluding Sphynx) and has the following effect: All units in target friendly army gain additional MP equal to their maximum MP until end of turn. All affected units lose 50% of their current HP. The MP capabilities of the units in combat are not affected.
Death March requires Scout Death March to be researched. Researching it costs 200 RP and is tier III (was 140 RP and tier II)
Units can be affected only by one of the two spells each strategic turn.

Wa12
Death March can be casted only once per (strategic) turn

Ha09i
Brew Brothers cost 75 gold and 20 mana (was 70 gold and 20 mana)

I vote

GC19 - No. Many already have mind control, and I think that is good enough. Also considering mind control has lost power, I think mind controlling a T4 is a good reward.
GC20 - No. I understand why people want these items changes and that my opinion here will be unpopular, but I like the randomness that these items provide and am worried we are eliminating too much of the luck factor from the game.

GC23 is interesting. I think if this got implemented then there would not be a need to set a level cap in games anymore. This is not a vote yes or no. 

=== 2017 PBEM Duel Tournament ===
Thanks Tussel for the feedback, as Dread said, the idea is indeed that after 7 matches, the counter is reset and you can replay all the class/race. I suggest to say all except the ones from your last match.
Rules and settings are under discussion so please check them and post in the pool or in the official forum to discuss them: http://aow.triumph.net/forums... />
It's here to register: https://www.the-battlefield.c... />
=== PBEM 2vs2 Team Tournament ===
Following discussions among judges, we agreed to keep the text of the rules unchanged (though we will probably add an article to make clear that judges might adapt the rules when necessary based on circumstances, as we did recently). We recognize we took too much time to announce the extension and will do our best to avoid that in the future.
In order to remove uncertainties on the exact date of the end of the round (which may happen suddenly if both match #2 and #4 ends abruptly), we decided that if matches #2 and #4 end before 8 November, the remaining matches will have up to 1 week to end, before applying rule 2 (biggest combined score wins).

=== Balance ===
We have 2 weeks left before the end of the month and at that point, I'll need to give a changelog to Zaskow so that he can start work on v1.2.
So we need to choose if we implement some key changes.... Feedback on:
Ne20
Inflict Curse costs 5 (was 4)
(Inflict Curse costs 4 and Inflict Enfeebling Fever costs 5 whereas the former is stronger)

AD06b
Arch Druid leaders and heroes’ Lesser Befriend Animal and Befriend Animal have strength 9 (was 10) and 11 (was 12) respectively

Ro16b
Rogue leaders and heroes’ Lesser Charm and Charm have strength 6 (was 7) and 8 (was 9) respectively

Th08b
Theocrat leaders and heroes’ Lesser Convert and Convert have strength 8 (was 9) and 10 (was 11) respectively

GC19
T4 all have Mind Control Immunity

GC20
Skilled Adventurer’s Slingshot (Common) has Slingshot and Animal Slayer (was Slingshot and Befriend Animal)
Siren’s Musical Box (Strong) (was Seduce)
Ashes of the Reaper (Epic) has Turn Undead, Undead Slayer and Energy Drain (was Control Undead)
Karissa’s Perfume (Legendary) has Cause Berserk (Medium Range, cast Berserk on target enemy unit) (was Seduce)
Divine Sceptre of the Theologian (Mythical) has Weaken and, once per battle, can give Divine Wrath to target touched unit (was Convert + Weaken)
Meandor’s Autobiography (Mythical) has High Elf Slayer + Human Slayer + Black Bolts + Ghouling Strike (was High Elf Slayer + Human Slayer + Black Bolts + Inflict Ghoul Curse)

GC21
Items produced in the Arcane Item Forge can add the following abilities: Lesser Charm, Lesser Befriend Animal, Lesser Control Undead, Lesser Seduce (was Charm, Befriend Animal, Control Undead, Seduce)
Lesser Seduce has spirit strength 10

GC22
Items produced in the Arcane Item Forge which gives mind-control abilities, immobilization abilities (Entangling Touch, Freezing Touch, Petrifying Touch, Stunning Touch, Webbing Touch) or Healing are associated to Weapon items (were associated to Use items)

GC23
Heroes and leaders now require more experience to level up, with 25% more time needed to reach level 5, +40% to reach level 9, +72% to reach level 13, +88% to reach level 15 and then +400 XP / level instead of +200 XP / level

Jed beans joined !!

once u played all classes and races, then picking system will be refreshed

Regarding the rules for the 2017 tournament:

"5. A team can never play a class or race that it played in all its previous matches (so you can play Goblin only once in the whole tournament, you can play Sorcerer only once, etc.). BEFORE the match, you must let the Judges (but not your opponents) know what class and race you will play for your upcoming match by private message in the Battlefield website. "

How are we expected to play a potential 10 matches without reusing a class when there are only 7 classes available?

That's a valid concern and complaint. Believe me, the judges do not like changing the rules either. In this case, it's not exactly a rule change, future rounds will still be 2 months long. It's more an exceptional adjustments based on the current situation. The preferences of the 3 judges were different but we all conceived it was possible to give this extension.
So what are the reasons for the change and its announcement yesterday?
You are right that we knew 2 matches had a 1 month extension but the decision to extend for all matches was actually taken 2 days ago so we announced it as fast as possible, in less than 24 hours. As I said, we had different preferences and I did not expect we would take this decision so we did not anticipate it more, sorry about that. The reasons to take the decision were that: 1/ at least 2 ongoing matches had significant delays due to holidays or Ironman notification issues which caused pauses while judges deliberated and so it was fair - or at least justifiable - to give them extensions, 2/ we did not think it would penalize anyone, 3/ if we did not give extensions for everyone, some players would have to stop their match today and wait for maybe 1 month for the matches affected by replacement to end (and actually it's your game that is in this situation) so it would seem a bit stupid to stop their match to then let them wait. And also, in terms of fun and frustration, it seems better to let people finish their game. The counter-argument we had is that we don't want the tournament to continue for ever and we don't want to go in a slippery slope and start allowing extension. But this situation is and will remain exceptional (except if we have other holidays period, like Christmas maybe).

Please send a PM to the judges if you think we should change our decision.

==

!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 2017 PBEM Duel Tournament ANNOUNCEMENT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The tournament's registration are opened! Please check the news Registration for a PBEM Duel Tournament will open on 15 October and join here: http://www.the-battlefield.co... />
==
@Skuns: regarding
Ne06g
Ghouling Strike does not give any damage bonus (was +5 physical, +5 blight)

It would not mean Ghouling Strike does 0 damage, it would just do normal damage of a melee attack. Currently it does +5/+5 compared to a normal attack. So are you still against?

And regarding Ne05h
Lesser Reanimate Undead and Greater Reanimate Undead give Undying to their target (was reanimate it at 50% and 75% HP respectively)

Well, that's the point to make these abilities less powerful. Currently the big strength of Necro is that you can keep all your units alive in every fight and "block" the AI by making it attack over and over again the same unit that you reanimate. With Undying, you would not be able to do that anymore.

"Ne11 - I wouldn't be against it with old rules for the tournament: "
Which old rules?

Not sure if I like altering the rules at the last minute.

You have known about the game extensions for some time.  And
you have known some games were still far from over.  Any reason
you waited till the last minute to allow extensions for all games.

TOURNAMENT ANNOUNCEMENT:
In the 2vs2 Team Tournament, following discussions among judges, as 2 games received a 1 month time extension because they had to restart due to team dropping out of the tournament, it was decided that all matches were allowed to continue until a/ these 2 matches are finished or b/ the 1 month extension expires.
So whichever of a/ and b/ (15 November) comes first, will mean the end of round 1 and all matches still ongoing at that time will have to stop and the team with the highest cumulated score will win the match (as planned in the rules).

=====
Thanks mauve and Skuns! mauve, you're one step ahead compared to others here, who probably didn't see the proposed specialisation changes.
It's better to discuss the specialisations in the forum for now as we are still at a brainstorm level and no priority change has been agreed upon: http://aow.triumph.net/forums... (we need to limit messages on this player pool to the minimum to avoid having people overwhelmed with messages).

I'm going to add your opinions on the table tomorrow Skuns.
Thanks also to rrrrookie for feedback on the chat.

mauve, regarding bugs, I suggest to report them on the PBEM Balance Mod discussion which is more adapted for new version announcement and bug reports (even though here it's a vanilla game bug it seems): http://aow.triumph.net/forums... />(by the way, mauve I sent you a PM some time ago, to sort out priority from non-priority changes, I'd be very interested by your feedback by PM, same for Marcus )
====

For those who haven't yet, please vote: What would be the best system to prevent participants to choose always the same class/race in the next tournament?

I don't think I've ever cast any of the spells listed as up for change in the specialisations, and I also haven't really done anything with the partisan specialisation, so balance-wise, I don't have a lot of input on these.

I will give a few general thoughts though.

First, I agree with BBB on the AoW3 forums that boosting the masteries in general would make them more of a consideration. As it is, grabbing two adepts that you are going to use, versus a single mastery that won't have anything researched before many games end, makes the former a more likely choice. Unless someone is deliberately choosing a mastery so that they are more likely to get class skills instead of specialisation skills early on instead.

Second, the comparison between "domain of" spells and "iron grip" isn't entirely justified, since the domain spells might be cast on cities that aren't entirely within that domain. In other words, they are already far more situational without the corresponding empire spell (which itself requires a mastery specialisation). In my opinion, the happiness doesn't need to be balanced against something like iron grip for this reason, since the spells do different things, and iron grip will always be just as effective on every city. I definitely favour some kind of buff to the domain of spells, and all the proposed changes seem reasonable.

Finally, where would be the best place to post things if I think I see some bugs or typos or other errors in the game and/or mod?

For instance, I just noticed that the springs of life provides 200 population according to its tooltip, but my orc outpost is only getting 150 from it according to the city information screen. There are no morale modifiers, although that appears lower in the screen anyway and shouldn't affect the unmodified income.

Dr04b, Dr17a - for it.
Ne01a - against it. I am satisfied with this spell in its current form
Ne05h - definetely against it. What I like in using Reanimate - I can use it after my unit died. And I have much time to reanimate it. What I don't like at spells which cast Undying - very often you have no enough time to protect your unit with Undying before it was killed.
If choose between Ne06f and Ne06g - I'm for Ne06f. I think it's unfair to leave Ghouling Strike without any damage.
Ne09a - I don't mind
Ne11 - I wouldn't be against it with old rules for the tournament: 
Ne13 - for it. 
Ne13a - against it.
Ne13b - may be for it.
Ne13c - for it.
Ne14 - may be for it.
Ne15 - interesting, for it.
Ne16 - for it.
Ne17 - against it. I don't agree pay for it's researchig more than 80 RP (now 60 RP)  
Ro06a - for it. But I don't understand, why Antiserum can not heal units on the strategic map. Theocrat's skill Healing can heal units.
Ro09, Ro15 - for it
Th05 - for it
Th06 - rather against it. May be, if it possible, you should leave it for Theo leaders and remove it from heroes? Or may be it should appear at higher levels - 13-15 level, for example.
Wa05, Wa11a, Wa12 - for it
Ha03b, Ha08 - for it
Ha09i - I don't mind

You asked to give feedback.
GC10 - against it. As I could see, autocombat fights (between players) pass almost without Charm/Convert/etc., if only there are not involved nymphs. And with GC10 why would we need Charm/Convert/etc.?
GC12 - may be for it 
AD07a - for it.
AD08 - may be for it
AD10a - definitely for it
AD11 - against it. For Archdruid most of the babies are summonnig. If we will weaken them then they will not have time to live up to the evolve :'(
AD15 - I don't know at what it will affect.
AD17 - rather against it. If the player would be able easily produce spiders/serpents, then I would vote For it. But it is not. May be you should propose some AD17a - AD leaders and heroes can use Befriend animal only on T1 and T2. When the player have researched, for example, Produce Shaman, AD leaders (only) can use Befriend animal on T3/T4.
Dr04c - I don't mind
For now it's all I can 

Stiffen Limbs and Necro are as OP as ever - just did turn 6 Sphinx Temple (only found it turn 6) with weak starting army - i.e. 2 lvl4 heroes, 1 gold lvl cavalry and 2 irregulars and 1 Lost Soul - i beat 2 Watchers (Evil Eyes) and 4 Mystics for 500 research points... and i say it's all because of SL - it let me do some crazy leveling before that. Reanimate lvl2 cavalry is too strong and so is the starting heal 25 HP.

disclaimer  - Abuser like me can do stuff that is just not intended do be done turn 1-5 (; I never do this kind of un-fair on people as you all may know - i hate to play Necro - just saying (;

Thanks Hellbrick, very useful!
The help of one or two persons would be very welcome to brainstorm on balancing Air Master, Water Master, Wild Magic and Shadowborn Master as well as high-level sites (Dungeon, Forbidden Sanctum, Sunken City, Sphynx Temple, Hall of the Forefather, Ziggurath, Lost City, Castle of the Lich King). After the brainstorm for these are finished, we'll need to discuss the proposed changes and quickly come to a changelog for v1.2 so that Zaskow has time to implement it.

==

Sjow has been replaced by Skuns in the 2015 PBEM Duel Tournament. He'll face Fistandantilus in the 1st match of the final phase.

For what it's worth, here's some feedback for the changes that I have strong opinion about:

GC10: against.

AD11: don't mind, but don't really see the point. Baby animals are already weak enough to require careful usage and protection, so I don't think making them more vulnerable will actually make using them any more difficult.

Ne11: against. Making the starting army completely unhealable until leader/hero levels up seems a bit too harsh. If there's need to nerf starting healing for Necro, I'd rather suggest removing starting Heal undead from the Necro heroes only (while leaving the leader untouched). Or maybe split Heal undead into two abilities: one passive that heals the undeads in the stack overnight (available from the start) and one active that does the actual combat healing (available later for some UP).

GC12: for. This slows down the convertion rush without crippling it too much, which is nice.

AD17: for. I like the idea of making animal growing AD-only feature.

Ne01a: against. It may be very subjective, but I find unreliable debuff spells incredibly annoying. If Stiffen limbs needs to be nerfed any further (which I don't think it does), this is not the way.

Ne05h: for, but I think the upgrade cost should be reduced accordingly.

Ne09a: against. Doesn't fit the Necro paradigm at all. 

Ne13: against. This would seriously undermine their usage as temporary scouts.

Ne13a: against. For the same reasons.

Ne13b: against. This is just weird.

Ne15: against. Necromantic aura is risky enough to be used reliably as it is, I don't think it should be nerfed.

Ne16: against. The spell is not as useful later in the game, so I don't think it should be postponed. Not sure if it should be nerfed, but this is not the way.

Ne17: for.

Rg09: for.

Th05: for.

Ha03b: for.

Ha08: for.

HellBrick joined !!

Thanks Mauve! We have 15 votes so far, please vote What would be the best system to prevent participants to choose always the same class/race in the next tournament? for all those who haven't yet!
The current result is 53% in favour of "Forbidden to replay a class or race chosen before" which would mean in next PBEM Duel Tournament, players would have to change class and race at each round (i.e. if you played Goblin Sorcerer on round 1, you will never be able to play Goblin or Sorcerer again in subsequent rounds).

==

Next PBEM Duel Tournament will use v1.2 of the balance mod. But the changelog of v1.2 is not yet ready because we lack feedback! So please check my posts below containing the changes "to be dropped?" and "priority change" and give your opinion "for" or "against" them. Thanks!
The target to finalize the changelog is the end of October.

==

Some small issues remain with v1.18 but they will be fixed before 15 October. As 2 games of round 1 got time extensions due to late replacement of teams who dropped, I think round 2 games will play on the beta branch. Otherwise, we would have to update the main branch to v1.18 and the round 1 games still ongoing would be affected.

==

The final phase of the 2015 PBEM Duel Tournament is delayed because Sjow drops from the tournament... Judges are discussing to see how to replace him.

I chose "no limitation" for the limit in the poll.

I want to comment here though, since I think it's good to talk about what the purpose of the tournament is. Actually, my preference personally would be to have on repeats at all, since I love getting a variety of situations to deal with.

But, for balance purposes, I think it's more useful to have the top class and race combinations float to the top so that they can be examined more carefully, which is why I currently favour no limitation.