The serie up to HOMM 4 was very much about having a superhero. Especially HOMM 3 and 4. I don't recall the number of time in HOMM 3, when you develop Mastery of Earth to have Mass Slow and Town Portal, and Air or Water Mastery for Mass Haste and Mass Prayer respectively. Except against Black dragons, your opponents just can't even move a finger.
Same thing with HOMM 5, with a combo of 3-4 heroes packed together. Between the support spellcaster and the warriors, you just destroy whole armies.
And with Diplomacy skills you can even recruit/downsize your opponent's army befori e the battle takes place.
HOMM 5 at least bring more balance with the hero. They can be highly destructive by themselves (Dark Elves/Necro/Mages), but overall your troops are what matters. The Hero comes more at boosting troops like in HOMM 3, but not like in being the all-powerful God of War.
By the way, there is buzz about Ubi Soft preparing a MMO version of HOMM 5.
Anybody heard of it ?
If true, I'm in big time
Have fun,
Starbuck