If you don't like Ubisoft's policies, and don't like DRM, then avoid the game. As someone who argued the DRM wasn't that bad prior to release, I find it pretty oppressive in practice, and highly annoying. The game isn't worth going against any ideals you have against them.

They'll most likely just stop producing the games though.

You're probably right, or worse dilute it by giving it the facebook treatment. =\

Hate to bump an old thread, but I wanted to ask something relevant. I saw this topic on the day oldschool poster it, and being a fan of the series, I suddenly had an interest in actually paying attention to this games' release. I didn't want to pre-order Heroes of Might and Magic VI (Might and Magic Heroes VI, whatever) outright, however, because I was (understandably) skeptical of whether Ubisoft would deliver on this promise.

According to GamersGate, the game has "Other DRM". Direct2Drive doesn't have the "DRM-free" lock symbol on it's respective page, and Steam... well, I would assume that Steam probably requires the client to be running to even launch this game in the first place, since even a majority of indie games require launching through the Steam client.

I pretty much just skimmed through the rest of this topic, but it looks like it's not really DRM-free.

So, you know, I'd really love a formal explanation on this matter. Is it really DRM-free? Is it going to be in the future? Did something stupid[er than usual] happen at the offices of Ubisoft between August and now?

It's not DRM-free and never was, it uses online activation at the install the "difference" is in how the "always online" part is handled.

Basically it's king of a dirty trick from Ubi to help peoples swallowing the always online requirement (personal opinion) , you don't need to be always online to play the game... but if you play offline some solo features won't be available.

Whenever those always online "features" are important or can safely be ignored is an open debate with peoples saying that they are completely useless and other saying that they help/improve the gameplay.

...yeah. Glad I didn't preorder now. It's very seldom I drop that kind of dosh, but I certainly wouldn't do it for a game that wasn't DRM free. I guess I'll wait for the day it becomes $10 and they decide to sell it on GOG. ¬_¬

Well, I for one am not going to get it yet, but, for those of you who really really want to play it, but don't have too much cash, you can get it at Get Games for 16.99 here is the link:
http://www.getgamesgo.com/product/might-magic-heroes-6
I have ordered from Get Games without problems myself, in case you didn't know about them before. It's been at the price for awhile now, so I don't know how much longer it will last, in case you were wondering.

Get Games is fucking horrible. The less money they get, the faster they can go out of business.

Really? Details please sir? And, if it helps you feel better, I hardly spent anything there.

... wha? I've never had issues buying stuff from there.

Really? That is all you had to say? I searched over the internet for around an hour to find out what was so horrible with the site, I found diddly, nothing whatsoever. I waited 2 days for any kind of response from you, nothing. Thanks for wasting my time, and not clarifying your very vague and rude post. I don't know what I did exactly to offend you, but, I doubt I deserved that snub.

I wouldn't recommend HOMM VI. And this is coming from someone who preordered and loved the series.

The game is good. But Ubisoft has shown no interest in bug fixing the game. At all. They put out a day 0 patch and a small 500 kb patch if I remember right. They're promising a sweeping bug fix patch, adding town screens, and all that jazz...but it's been three months now, and there's nothing to be shown.

Personally, I already see the writing on the wall. Ubisoft's done this before with games; abandoning them well before their time leaving broken games in their wake.

Also, the DRM is terrible. The game can be played offline, but many options are removed. And to even launch the game you have to connect to Ubisoft's little online launcher thing, forcing twitter and FB updates on you just to load the game.

Given the fact that I doubt Ubisoft will allow Black Hole to deliver on what they've promised, I say avoid.

They fear.
They fear of us.

Com'on guys, nows the chance to strike.
Now we can get Assassin's Creed 2 and Splinter Cell Conviction DRM free!

If that's not a blatant lie, then I don't know what is. You must have missed the patch released just before Christmas, which fixed a lot of bugs. Examples, please. As for HoMM VI, none ever said the game won't be supported anymore, so here's hoping the aformentioned town screen revamp (maybe in an expansion?). Mostly insignificant ones which aren't even required to finish the game, so it's not an issue as far as I'm concerned. I'd call it a mild annoyance at worst, but I won't blame you if you disagree with me. Now you're just desperately trying to find something to complain about. It's a simple launcher, there's nothing wrong with it... Disconnect from the internet entirely if said updates bother you.

If you want an example of Ubisoft releasing broken games with poor DRM and then abandoning it, look no further then Silent Hunter V. Ubisoft forced the development of post-release patches to end around a year or less after release leaving the game buggy. Ubisoft has a bad tradition about doing it, regardless if you want to believe me or not.

You get me on the 1.2 patch though. I stopped looking when they begged people to stop complaining and just wait, which appears to have been four days before the release.

Edit: The Patch modifies and fixes things, but nothing that justifies a two month wait. The biggest fix is the AI which originally would completely abandon towns to the player if you so much as hinted at aggression. That's a nice one. But again, two months?