Hi all!
I finally had the time to play a bit today and my opinion is more positive respect to the other ones you may find in this discussion. I think that there have been some improvements respect to previous versions and I especially like the new idea of a deployment not so static as before,
however the invisible walls and the very tiny maps must be completely eliminated, but it seems also the developers agree on this point (i.e., I have played with and against Lions, Ram and Wolfen and I noticed that many compositions now are with a lot of base units (especially Lion or Ram archers) so that they can block the paths in the tiny maps and then make waste from behind the obstacles. It's the apotheosis of the Turtle Formations since you can see/attack the enemy from your starting positions!!!
)
Regarding the AP cost of the various units, I still think the Sparklings were nerfed too much (I would change back one of the nerf, e.g. the AP cost or the possibility to heal other Sparklings), while the Golem should be about 10-20 AP higher and the PoB another 10-15 AP lower, but this is just a first impression (about 10 matches). I didn't have the opportunity to play against the Worg and the Chimera, so I can't say anything on them.
In general, it has been however very difficult to properly evaluate this patch, since the "Invisible Walls" and "Tiny Maps" problems caused more than half of the matches to be concluded like the "Old Battle Field" map: a rush against the enemy Turtle Formation! It will be always better in the future to avoid to implement maps so tiny that the troop dispositions can allow to target and kill your enemy before it can even move.
Finally, I continue to highlight that an item to reset the unit abilities would be very helpful to try different abilities and that the correct way to solve the problem of units running around the map for a Draw is not implementing "Invisible Walls" or "Tiny Maps", but more adding a "Draw" buttons for both players to ask for a draw or evaluating the AP remaining at the end of the match (scaled with the units remaining HPs)
Have a nice evening,
Almanro