Seems like we've been waiting forever for this... but I won't pay $9.99 either. $4.99 - $5.99 tops, because the game is so old. I tried the trial years ago at another site that sells the game and it kept crashing, and was a horrible experience. I haven't had an issue with a single thing purchased here at gog.com, so I know gog will do it right... let's just hope they're given the chance.
I hate ubisoft.

I think we shouldn't hate Ubisoft.
I'm glad they choose to let GOG release some of their games.
Now I'm sure Heroes is long to negociate because it is a famous serie. Ubisoft may be afraid of selling any Heroes for a low price (this being justified or not)...
Let's hope it'll be finally released. I would be totally disappointed if not.

Feel free to not hate Ubisoft. You have not also had to work in the industry with them. ;)
But I can agree with your last sentiment: I hope it'll finally be released.

May I try a "Ignorance is bliss"? ;)

Well, here's our answer. "Introductory price of $5.99." I'm glad, because I'd never pay $9.99 for it. Silly Ubisoft. At least we got it now. :)

Same here.
I would -easily- pay 10$ for Heroes III extensions included, for Heroes II and extensions too, but not for Heroes I alone.
Finally we got it!

what the...wasn't this game supposed to be abandonware ? I could swear that i saw it listed as downloadable on abandonia.com

No. Abandonware is not the same as freeware, and as far as I know, this has not been released as such.
It was, however it is no longer downloadable from there. Abandonia's policy is to take down downloads of games that gets re-released commercially as far as I know.

Even though HoMM 1 is a great game, I m waiting for a HoMM 2 release, and I m hoping for the soundtrack as a bonus content :)
My favorite is HoMM3 (with "the Wake of Gods" mod), which I keep playing very often since the game came out.

WoG? I can't help myself but that mod IMO sucks hard.

Agreed. Then again - I prefer to play vanilla games anyway...
There are two amazing things that 3 lacks and 5 has, BTW:
1* Estimates. You no longer have to guess and end up with either an overkill or *under*kill... I never was good at such calculations and ended up being paranoid ever since an innocent amount of units managed to wipe my main hero from the face of the planet. Thus - I embraced the "your attack will kill X-Y Zs" messages ;).
2* Initiative. If a unit is FAST, it attacks more often. It's common sense, isn't it ? Yet - before 5 - it only could move further and earlier...

None taken. I never played HoMaM hardcorely. And when I did play it - like I said - I grew quite paranoid and played WAY too defensively...
Nevertheless - I intend to hone my skills, as soon as I pass all the campaigns in 1 and 2...
I might retire sooner, however ;).
Aw, c'mon - are you really sure I make no sense whatsoever with the estimate hints ;) ?
I think you make it seem too extreme. You can't rely exclusively on the "hiperactive" units, as they are not that powerful most of the time. As such - you'll want something heavy to tank the retaliation before sending them to action, etc... Except if you outnumber the oponent by a mile.
EDIT: It just hit me - when I mentioned the "estimates", I meant the in-battle ones, not the adventure map ones ! The latter seem pointless, IMO.
Even a casual player as myself can finally get a grip of what he can run over and what will smash him. It's the finer details that got me.
Nah... Who am I kidding ? To be honest - I still manage to get myself into trouble by picking the wrong fights (of course - a LOT less than I used to, back in the day ;). Mostly when I have a support hero with a huge army against the enemy's main hero with significantly less powerful army. I still can get tricked into thinking that my backup dude will fend him off just as well x_x... I guess it's also the influence of the sequels that messes up my calculations. For instance - I was amazed to find out that in HoMaM 1 the peasants were actually USEFUL.

When you say that fast creatures should attack more often, it theory that makes perfect sense. Nevertheless, there always is dichotomy between theory and the field reality.
I have no idea how they managed that in HoMM5 since I have never played it. But anyway, in HoMM3 (since we are talking about that particular game), I still think that your theory would be way too extreme. And speaking about extreme, here is an example : do you realize having gold dragons attacking twice, or even trice ? The only "efficient" way to counter that ability would be to give retaliation to all slower units. How fun is that ?
You cannot rely on 2 major abilities and 2 spells (slow and haste) to balance your game. Plus, that would be too complicated to keep it fair to all parties.
Black dragon vs Titan. Griffon vs golem... just think about it.
Early 90s peasants had more consideration, indeed ! Then, they became "chair a canon" for a while until King s bounty : the legend came out, and have become at last, useful again. I used them from the beginning to the end, just for fun, and it worked quite well ;)

I've gathered ;). That's why you didn't get what I've meant.
Oh, dear... Another example of me using the words imprecisely (the first was using "guess" instead of "estimate"). In HoMaM 5 you have TWO distinct stats: speed and initiative. The first determines how FAR a creature can move, the second - how OFTEN (and how soon).
Brilliant, isn't it ?
That reminds me - I must get my hands on that as well...
If it only wasn't for my exams... Bah...