I haven't read any of the earlier posts, because there are just too freaking many of them
so if any of these points have already been mentioned I apologize. Grab a drink and some popcorn, this is going to be a long post
In general: In my view, all heroes are too weak in late game. Even if you have them in the middle of your army, their weak health and armor values mean that they end up dead much faster than your main army of troops. I think a balance should be found, between their health values originally and in the recent update that heavily nerfed them. I also don't understand why all heroes that can switch weapons, regardless of faction, deal half damage at range than they do in melee. Especially for Lothlorien, literally the archer faction, yet their weapon switch heroes are better in melee than at range.
Additionally in regards to their cost, why does a level 1 hero cost the same to revive as a level 10 hero? In the vanilla game, you pay a base cost to recruit a hero. Now, if that hero dies immediately at level 1, he is very cheap to revive, much cheaper then the initial recruitment cost. However, once a hero reaches level 10, it actually costs more to revive them than it did to recruit them. I really like this system, and I don't understand why, or agree with, how it was changed to a single cost system.
Gondor: I think Beregonds weapon switch is utterly useless, due to his extremely low bow damage, same goes for Faramir. I don't really have a problem with any hero abilities, although I would say that Word of Power should definitely be made stronger. It is EXTREMELY difficult to get Gandalf to level 10, for multiple reasons: He takes a lot of experience to level up, dies very easily to enemy heroes, and finally against human opponents they almost always target him first. He's extremely easy to target because he sticks out like a sore thumb in the midst of your grey units, once he has Gandalf the White.
I would say that a middle ground should be found, where Word of Power can kill all starter units(gondor soldiers, peasants, basic orcs, etc) while dealing heavy damage to any late game units(tower guards, rohirrim of the eastfold, orcs from minas morgul, etc) In terms of Ring Heros, Boromirs level 10 summon never works anymore, even if you have no command points at all he cannot summon the Guards of the White City. For Gandalf the Challenge Master, I think he dies incredibly easily, although he does pack a serious punch to make up for the lack of health. Still, I would definitely like to see his armor and health boosted as little bit, and also his Light Words of Power should be at least twice as strong as a normal Word of Power. No input on Gandalf the Corrupted, I never use him, he sucks in my view.
Rohan: Théoden is my favorite hero in the mod, Glorious Charge is the best ability ever. I do have a problem though, any ability that freezes units essentially negates this ability. So for Mordor, you can summon Shelob and freeze half the army of Rohirrim mid-charge, neutralizing most of the potency. I would like to see cavalry made immune to the effects of paralyzation while under the effect of Glorious Charge.
The only hero I have a serious problem with is Eomer. He is pathetically, terribly weak for a mass slayer hero. His Memorial ability is awful for a level 7 ability, a fixed 20% damage leadership? Seriously? His level 10 is also very awful, it doesn't deal enough damage to kill anything by the time he gets it, because all units will have Heavy Armor by that time. Finally, his Spear Throw is basically useless, all it can kill are orcs. My suggestions for him would be to have his spear throw level up with him, becoming stronger incrementally every 3 levels or so, replace his Memorial ability completely, it really sucks, and finally his level 10 should be made much stronger than it currently is. 1 quick suggestion for Eowyn as well, it would be great to give her knockback resistance while she's under the effect of Shield Maiden.
For Ring Heroes, I really don't see any point in giving the Ring to Corrupted Théoden, all his abilities are basically the same, just a little bit stronger. I think that Grima with the Ring needs an overhaul, that changes Rohan to a corrupted version of its former self, with permanent Traitors, Traitor Archers, Traitor Cavalry, the whole deal. This would make a unique concept, making Rohans early game incredibly powerful if you gave Grima the Ring, but because Traitors cannot level up or receive upgrades, it would mean that late game they would be terrible. I also think that Glorious Theodens current tradeoffs for Ring abilities idea is really unfair. Look at all the other Ring heroes, they get those abilities for free with no penalties, so why can't Théoden have a new roster of abilities
in addition to the tradeoff options? That would make him a lot better and fairer, because right now there is no question that Rohan has the weakest Ring Heroes, weakest heroes overall, and finally are the weakest faction in late game.
Mordor: I can't really think of any problems in terms of being weak, besides the general issue of hero weakness in late game. I think I would say that all the Nazgul getting all of their different Morgul Blades is a little bit overpowered. I would recommend changing it so that a unit under the effect of Morgul Blade cannot be hit by another Morgul Blade. If all the Nazgul use their blades, they can kill any enemy hero in the game, except units immune to it like Sauron and Mollok. Also, Mollok always seems to die extremely easily, probably because of how easy it is to focus him down, due to his size. Nothing needs to be said about Ring Hero, Sauron is just as OP as he should be.
Isengard: Oh My God, these heroes are terrible. Sharku is utterly useless, and Warg Riders are very weak too, but that's a separate issue. Lurtz and Ugluk are the only decent heroes you can recruit, and are usually the last to die. Grima has some great abilities, but he dies so easy its laughable. Saruman dies incredibly easy, sticks out like a sore thumb for easy targeting, and his level 10 ability is garbage. Wulfgar is currently bad, but he'll be fixed when the beta comes out. Finally, Bill Ferny is OP in early game, and garbage in late game. All the other factions can get something to make their scout heroes remain relevant late game(Merry/Pippin get an upgrade, Bilbo gets a Mithril Shirt, Shagrat/Gorbag get a strong summon at level 10, Rumil/Orophin get an armor upgrade), but Isengard does not get anything of the sort, making Bill the weakest scout hero in the game overall.
Conversely, either of Sarumans Ring Hero forms are incredibly overpowered. The ability to permanently convert enemy armies combined with the clumping issues you mentioned means that you can completely prevent any kind of counterattack to regain the Ring. Additionally, for the Cursed specifically, if you put him in a Wizards Tower and then use his level 10 that shoots Fireballs,
it will not stop firing until every enemy you initially targeted has died. It doesn't matter how many shots it takes, or how far away the enemy army runs. One time, I was fighting a friend, as Gondor, and he used this ability. So I retreated to my base, all the way on the other side of the map, getting shot the whole way. He killed an entire 1800 CP army of Tower Guards, Citadel Guards, Rangers and all Gondor heroes with a single ability. And you thought Word of Power was bad
Iron Hills: Love the hero roster here. Drar seems to be really weak, I think he could use a fire rate and damage buff. Dains Vendetta ability is OP in my view, because it can be combined with his level 1 Baruk Khazad, making your dwarves deal blasphemous levels of damage.
Erebor: I don't play very often as this faction, but I really like the heroes overall. Gimli's ability to have enemies focus only on him doesn't seem to work, Gloins Oil Spill is incredibly deadly against Mordor and Rohan if used correctly, perhaps too deadly, and finally I can never get Dains level 10 invincibility near structures to work. I think the ability needs some tweaking. The Inherited Black Arrow is too complex an ability, and is actually quite bad for a level 10. Having to wait 3 minutes to use an ability that does mediocre damage is just stupid. It should be hugely buffed, so that if you wait for a full 3 minutes you can pretty much 1 shot any hero in the game, excluding Ring Heroes.
Ered Luin: Ah, Ered Luin. The definition of OP heroes
All of their abilities are great, all of their health values and damage are great, especially once you have Mithril. With Fili and Kili, their level 10 abilities are still buggy, I've never been able to get them to work, please take a second look at them. Balins Expedition is extremely OP, teleporting to a precise point anywhere on the map instantaneously is too strong. It should have a limited effective distance, or be changed entirely to something different. His Runes also take too long to cool down in my opinion, at best you can maybe give 2 runes to each hero per game, if its an extremely long game.
Bard seems to be very weak, and his level 10 ability, while cool, is very buggy. Its extremely hard to see the arrow when it lands, and it doesn't do a whole lot of damage to heroes, and lets face it, that's what people are going to use it on.
I don't like Bofur's Hurl Pickaxe, for the same reason, its really hard to see and annoying to pick back up. I liked it much better when he just hit enemies away, like Gloins old Slam ability from vanilla. I have yet to see Chain Quake actually work as its described and spread to other structures, all I've seen it do is continuous damage to the targeted structure. Also, the heal rate of Bombur is really strong, you can heal all of your heroes from near death to full health in about 15 seconds, while in the middle of combat. For Dwalin, Earth Hammer is really terrible compared to his level 10 rage ability, it deals practically no damage at all. Same goes for switching between his hammer and 2 axes, the axes are just better, and deal more damage faster. Finally, Durin the Deathless. I think Word of Silence is overpowered, because of the level-up. I would also really like to see the ability to give him a Mithril vest added, its ridiculous that the forefather of the Dwarves cannot be equipped with their best armor. He would have the best of the best of the best, the Dwarves revere him as a God and would all fight to the death to protect him.
Well, that's my speal. My fingers hurt