When i get my first ritual going i have basically already won the campaign and at that point getting Ariel feels like a wasted LH to me. 

Edit: Finally completed my first ritual at turn 70 and unlocked Ariel who starts off at level 1 when other characters like Orion are on level 48.

Solution:

Make a separate quest for Ariel that starts at level 10 for your factions LL.

Thoughts?

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MODIDDLY1#9212 wrote:

You're complaining that your campaigns feel like they're over by turn 50, and your solution to that is to get a super powerful LH earlier...

What a bizarre take on this topic… 

LHs aren’t about their power level. It’s about flavour and roleplaying. 

Should Tamurkhan get Kayzk at turn 70 because he’s so powerful? 

Ariel should work like all other current LHs and be available once your LL reaches level 12-15. Turn 70 is just way to late. Most of my campaigns are over at turn 90-100. 

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MODIDDLY1#9212 wrote:

You're complaining that your campaigns feel like they're over by turn 50, and your solution to that is to get a super powerful LH earlier...

If i understand you correctly you want powerful LH's to be unlocked at that late stage? Turn 50-70? But here is the thing mate, one Ariel is not gonna tip the balance to much in the campaign, but she will make it more fun with her unique flavour. 

I still think the best solution would be to unlock her by a separate quest that starts by turn 10. Because playing her together with Orion as much as possible in a campaign is fun.

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Freden#5415 wrote:

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MODIDDLY1#9212 wrote:

You're complaining that your campaigns feel like they're over by turn 50, and your solution to that is to get a super powerful LH earlier...

If i understand you correctly you want powerful LH's to be unlocked at that late stage? Turn 50-70? But here is the thing mate, one Ariel is not gonna tip the balance to much in the campaign, but she will make it more fun with her unique flavour. 

I still think the best solution would be to unlock her by a separate quest that starts by turn 10. Because playing her together with Orion as much as possible in a campaign is fun.

For the Wood Elves? One Ariel will definitely tip the balance. The WE's have so few places they actually need to defend, that having what basically boils down to another LL is a huge power boost. Recent SoT campaign I did I had hit level 10 with them by about turn 12. Plus I had Ariel by like turn 30. You get her after healing your first forest.

People keep complaining about campaigns feeling like they end too early, but all the solutions they offer are to just move the later game content earlier. It's got the same energy as streaming companies trying to solve people canceling because of high prices by raising prices. 

The problem is the midgame is nonexistent, empire management is gone, public order and corruption are a joke, and garrisons are so weak and easy to deal with, that expanding is incredibly fast. Giving the player more power earlier does nothing but give them more toys to get bored of faster.

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MODIDDLY1#9212 wrote:

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Freden#5415 wrote:

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MODIDDLY1#9212 wrote:

You're complaining that your campaigns feel like they're over by turn 50, and your solution to that is to get a super powerful LH earlier...

If i understand you correctly you want powerful LH's to be unlocked at that late stage? Turn 50-70? But here is the thing mate, one Ariel is not gonna tip the balance to much in the campaign, but she will make it more fun with her unique flavour. 

I still think the best solution would be to unlock her by a separate quest that starts by turn 10. Because playing her together with Orion as much as possible in a campaign is fun.

For the Wood Elves? One Ariel will definitely tip the balance. The WE's have so few places they actually need to defend, that having what basically boils down to another LL is a huge power boost. Recent SoT campaign I did I had hit level 10 with them by about turn 12.

People keep complaining about campaigns feeling like they end too early, but all the solutions they offer are to just move the later game content earlier. It's got the same energy as streaming companies trying to solve people canceling because of high prices by raising prices. 

The problem is the midgame is nonexistent, empire management is gone, public order and corruption are a joke, and garrisons are so weak and easy to deal with, that expanding is incredibly fast. Giving the player more power earlier does nothing but give them more toys to get bored of faster.

I still think you are on the wrong track by keeping Ariel locked until over 50 turns into a campaign (turn 70 for me).

I would much rather see other campaign mechanics given an overhaul to increase the length, challenge & difficulty. To use LH's like that, restricting them to turn 50 when the average WH3 campaign lasts 90-100 turns is not the way forward. Then i would rather have Ariel nerfed, even if it would be against the lore since she powerful in lore.

I think introducing flavourful characters later in a campaign that is already very short is bad game design. If CA is not gonna do anything about the campaign then I for one would still want Ariel earlier, even if it makes my campaign easier. I mean for god sake the average campaign in WH3 lasts 90-100 turns, we hardly get to play with her.

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MODIDDLY1#9212 wrote:

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Freden#5415 wrote:
I still think you are on the wrong track by keeping Ariel locked until over 50 turns into a campaign

You get her as soon as you heal your first forest. That can be done by like turn 30

Not if you're playing as Orion, that takes much longer since you're healing the Oak itself.

Either way, she's literally the only LH in the game that comes out so late in a campaign. Like every possible argument falls flat the moment you have Gor-rok starting with Kroak from turn 1 (and other LM's get the quest very early too).

I'd actually argue if you play as Orion she should just start with you. Having her pop out lvl 1 while im running around with my lvl 50 Orion is honestly kinda dumb, and she has 0 impact on the difficulti of a campaign, especially the WE one where you're basically free to do whatever you like with barely any threats.

SoT getting her at a later stage is perfectly fine IMHO, though maybe just tweak it into a quest tied to maybe 50% of your forest health or something.

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MalalTheRenegade#5644 wrote:

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MiniaAr#5798 wrote:

  As Orion, I find that healing the Oak takes too long to unlock Ariel and therefore I teleport asap to one of the smaller forest. My go to was the Forest of Gloom to snatch it before the Dwarfs but nowadays the one in Cathay is probably better as you can ally the Order factions around together max forest healing asap.

The Oak heals quicker when other forests are healed. So that's exactly what you should do.

Even though I get OP's frustration, it feels that most of it comes from poorly planning their campaign.

Just abit of info: I did not heal the Oak of ages first, i went for Cathay as soon as possible, but i could not do it too fast since i had to consolidate and secure my home regions abit.