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One of the most significant changes is the role of heroes. In the previous games, you needed a hero to lead an army. He or she added bonuses to the army, so it was in your best interest to develop a powerful hero to make a powerful army to clean up the map. The end result was that all the higher-level heroes tended to look alike, learning the same skills to boost the power of their armies. "If you had a hero who wasn't particularly strong in a given area, he couldn't compete," says lead designer Gus Smedstat.
But in Heroes of Might & Magic IV, each army consists of seven slots, each of which can be filled with a hero or creatures. This means heroes can be customized for specialization and they can cover each other's weaknesses in an army. A stack can consist of creatures led by multiple heroes, but it doesn't have to have any. Heroes can travel alone, which will actually be required to take advantage of things like stealth and invisibility on the overland map. Heroes will also participate directly in tactical battles, so they're more like playing pieces rather than just modifiers.
