The seven of them finished the tutorial missions quickly, gaining a general understanding of the game's basic systems, combat modes, and production mechanisms.
Even with just that, everyone in the room was incredibly excited.
The faction used in the tutorial was "Castle," arguably the strongest overall among the eight original races. The Westbrook quartet built production structures inside a fully realized, immersive castle, unlocking units from the basic Pikemen all the way up to Cavaliers. Every time they unlocked a new unit, they felt as if these troops were directly modeled after the forces of the Kingdom of Stormwind.
The Tier 1 unit was the Pikeman, which upgraded into the Halberdier—a soldier wielding a large poleaxe. Although the standard kit for Stormwind infantry was a one-handed sword and shield, small units of spearmen existed specifically to counter the Horde's wolf riders.
The key detail was the blue inner lining of the armor; the color scheme was identical to the standard issue of the Stormwind army.
For some reason, however, Wayne insisted on calling the Halberdiers fodder...
Then came the Tier 2 Archers and their upgrade, Marksmen. This was exactly the configuration of the mail-clad hunters in the army: starting with a slow bow and upgrading to a rapid-fire crossbow that could shoot two bolts at once.
The Tier 3 unit was the Gryphon. For the Alliance, these were fierce beasts seen at every Gryphon Roost in major cities and outposts.
As for the Tier 4 Swordsmen, the Westbrook quartet was currently wearing armor that looked no different. The upgraded Crusaders were the exact configuration of Stormwind's elite Royal Guards.
The attire of the Tier 5 Monks and Priests was less common. Nowadays, human mages rarely hid their heads with hoods, but Jaina once told Amy that this had been a popular style for human mages only a few decades ago. The Guardian Medivh, for instance, wore a brown outer robe and covered his head with a hood.
The Tier 6 units were Cavaliers and Paladins. The former shared the basic equipment of Stormwind scouts and cavalry candidates, while the latter...
Wayne told them that the Paladin unit was commonly known as the "White Knight," because in another faction called "Necropolis," there was an even more powerful knight known as the "Dread Knight."
As for the Tier 7 units, although they weren't unlocked in the tutorial, five Archangels would descend from the sky to join the player's army when the hero reached the enemy's city gates.
Everyone had already thought the Cavaliers were super-powerful, but the appearance of the Archangels changed their perspective entirely. These winged beings wielding flaming longswords could easily "fight a hundred men alone" and even resurrect fallen comrades. They were absurdly strong.
If the Alliance had such a powerful unit, sending just a few would make the grass on Hogger's grave grow six feet high.
But it wasn't just the units that shocked them. Amy—who had come to the net cafe to study magic through Harry Potter movies—discovered spells in the Mage Guild that felt both familiar and brand new.
For example, Lightning Bolt. This was a common offensive spell in the game. The principle looked similar to the Fireballs they usually used, but in the game, it was categorized as "Air Magic." In the real world, most mages could not simulate elemental lightning through arcane energy.
However, spells like Magic Arrow and Ice Bolt were highly similar to Arcane Missiles and Frostbolt.
There were also spells like "Bless" and "Precision" that enhanced a unit's lethality. These crossed the boundary of traditional mage research, which usually stayed within the arcane realm and rarely touched physical attributes. They felt more like a Paladin's Blessing spells.
While the others were still researching, Wayne told them to stop and simply start a medium-sized random map. The eight of them were split into four teams, two per team in an alliance. Neutral monsters were set to easy mode, and the map included the Underworld. It was to be a practical exercise.
So, Wayne and Tess formed a team, with everyone else choosing the "Castle" race to further deepen their familiarity with the game's mechanics.
Once they entered the game in their teams, the chat channel automatically switched to team mode, meaning only teammates could hear each other's voices.
Of course, as the net cafe owner, Wayne still held the highest authority. But since they had agreed on a competitive match and his proficiency far exceeded theirs, he didn't feel the need to eavesdrop on the other teams' intentions unless someone asked for help.
Tess, under Wayne's step-by-step guidance, was picking up the game quite quickly despite being the youngest.
First was the Hero. Since the game was called Heroes of Might and Magic, the Hero was naturally the core element. Choosing a good starting hero for exploration could yield twice the results with half the effort.
Since all eight players were using the Castle faction, once a player picked a certain hero, others could no longer choose them. Wayne moved at top speed to select the Priestess named "Adela" and had Tess pick the human Knight "Orrin" as her primary hero.
Among all the Castle heroes, these two were absolute top-tier generals. Even among heroes of all factions, they were considered among the best starters.
Adela's specialty was "Bless," a spell that increased minimum damage—not particularly strong on its own.
But that wasn't where her power lay. Her true strength was starting with the "Diplomacy" skill. To veteran players of Heroes III, she was one of the "Three Great Diplomats."
Diplomacy increased the chance that neutral monsters on the map—who would otherwise flee—would join the player's army, and it reduced the gold cost to recruit them.
This meant that once a player had a bit of initial strength, they could quickly force weaker neutral monsters to join by attacking them, further increasing their strength and the likelihood of other monsters surrendering. This created a positive snowball effect, allowing the player to quickly amass a massive army of low and mid-tier units, gaining a huge early-game advantage.
Adela's other skill was "Wisdom." Basic, Advanced, and Expert Wisdom allowed a hero to learn Level 3, 4, and 5 spells, respectively. Level 5 was the highest magic tier in the game, and without the corresponding Wisdom level, high-level spells could not be learned.
He originally wanted Tess to use Adela, but considering Tess couldn't yet judge the strength of monsters on the map or distinguish low-tier from high-tier, he used her himself.
The Knight Orrin, whom he chose for Tess, was a very straightforward and effective hero.
His specialty was Archery, and he started with the "Archery" and "Leadership" skills.
Many Castle heroes started with Leadership. It was a luck-based skill that Wayne, as a veteran, considered somewhat niche. It increased the chance of high morale; once triggered in battle, the unit could immediately act again.
However, leaving one's fate to luck during a critical battle was clearly not a good choice.
In contrast, Archery increased the damage of ranged units by 10%, 25%, and 50% across its three levels.
This was incredibly strong, especially for the Castle faction's Tier 2 Marksmen, who were among the most cost-effective and powerful ranged units in the game. As long as ranged units were used correctly, they could shoot the enemy dead before they even reached your lines—a god-tier skill for zero-loss exploration.
Additionally, the Castle's Blacksmith provided a Ballista, which also benefited from the Archery skill. The Castle also had the Tier 5 Zealot; while not as strong as the Marksman, it was a solid mid-tier ranged unit. This made Orrin an excellent hero with strong combat capabilities from the early to late game.
Wayne told Tess that this hero was just for her to practice with; once she became proficient, Adela with Diplomacy would be even better.
But neither Adela nor Orrin could claim the title of the absolute number one general in the Castle. In later versions, there was a Knight hero commonly known as "Big Face" (Sir Mullich) who was the truly "broken" character deserving of the title "god-tier."
Once the game started, Wayne and Tess's starting town was located in the bottom-left corner of the large map. He quickly directed Tess to upgrade buildings and then sweep the map for scattered resources and mines.