Recommended turn order based on play times:

AlX, basically I agree with you and I was in favour of a bigger nerf of Befriend Animal but most players were against it. So I believe we'll have to stick with this for now.
We need more feedback on what to do next. I opened a new thread so it is very quick to read, you don't have 6 pages of walls of text. Please everyone have a look at it and react:
http://aow.triumph.net/forums/topic/balance-based-on-hard-data-from-the-pbem-tournament-continued
We have a few options and I'd like to hear what you want to do:
A/ make all class / race viable and thus boost combo that were not played in the PBEM tournament and nerf those who were played a lot
B1/ make all specialisation equally useful and viable
B2/ make all units equally useful and viable and make racial governance choices meaningful (i.e. you should really hesitate between the eco and military choice and not always choose one because it is better)
B3/ make all heroes equally useful (currently AD and Theo heroes – and not leaders – are more useful because of healing and other abilities)
C/ fix the remaining imbalances in abilities / specific units (e.g. Necro’s Energy Drain)

==
In the 2nd 8 players tournament, ehall20 dropped because of lack of time. Olop and Warlord Keldon were the only 2 players in the same situation (1 loss at the beginning, 2 victories afterward) so they are about to fight to decide who will replace ehall. The round is thus currently on hold.

In the 16 players tournament, cbower and Lightform can start their match. We have both class / race.

AD05  
Befriend Animal is available at level 5 for Archdruid heroes and leaders (was 3) and costs 4 (was 3)  
AD06  
Leaders and heroes’ Befriend Animal has strength 6. When Summon Eldritch Animal is researched by the player, its strength is improved to 8.  
Ne07  
Necromancer heroes and leaders can choose Convert Undead at level 7 for 5 points (was level 5 for 4 points)  
Ne08  
Leaders and heroes’ Control Undead has strength 6. When Summon Banshee is researched by the player, its strength is improved to 8. 

Let's think of the two abilities as equals. In this case Befriend Animal allows for animal converting, including Dire Bear, Dire Panter, Spider Queens, Serpents, hellhounds, hellsteeds and so on. But the real dangerous part here is that by constant battling with the t1 like spiders, baby serpents and so on AD can gain the evolved versions pretty fast.
In the end I'll add some screenshots from my (and) latest game agains Evgendil and Marcus.
Back to the point - even if we treat both abilities as equals - how often do you think you meet UD or animals? is it equal? From my experience the ratio is more like 60-40 to 70/30 (comparing to each other), and not in favour of undead.
Either way, I believe Befriend animal should be available AFTER level 7 and for AT LEAST 5 points. Don' t forget that ad has animal bonuses + regeneration, which boosts the ability to farm unit levels.
And now some screens (turn 28, but the armies went my way around turn 25 or earlier, my defending 2 stacks were defeated, inflicted small casualties to Evgendil), sadly, I barely started musketeer/golem production, and even so - they are no match.

Debate continued here for those interested http://aow.triumph.net/forums...

I want to clarify that I'm not debating about individual classes.  It's the overall concept.   I will use Charm and Rogues as an example.

1.  When Charm's strength is lowered, it now becomes the standard.  Every leader class is affected in the same way.  That's fine.  No issues.  The Charm ability is brought into balance by the mod by lowering its strength.

2.  When Charm increases strength after Produce Bard is researched, Rogue heroes now become stronger when their leader is a Rogue as well.  This objective I don't agree with.  I believe it introduces imbalance to the balance.

My arguments against Point #2 are:

A.  Other classes, such as warlord, don't have a Warlord hero becomes stronger when Warlord skill is researched by a leader.

B.  I'm not saying point #2 above is a bad idea, but to "balance" it across each class would be a challenge and, probably, outside the intent of the balance mod.

I'm not sure this thread is the best place for continued discussion.  Is there a thread on AoW3 forums?  If so, please post the link here and I'll post on that thread for continued discussion.

I think you misread the change. Nothing is increased. Charm, Convert, Control Undead and Befriend Animal are nerfed by 2 level of strength. When you research the appropriate tech, it's brought back to its normal (current) level. So it's not +2 compared to now.
So Warlord heroes benefit strongly. Warlord class also somehow benefit because their Theo, AD, Necro and Rogue opponent will not be able to convert with their leader as well as before, until they research techs. The idea is to slow down conversion and also make classes more meaningful (i.e. not having EVERYONE converting units in all games through Theo heroes).

I do not like any of the rules that grant additional powers to a class of heroes based upon a leader's skill.  For instance, increasing Charm strength based upon Produce Bard.  This benefits Rogue heroes for Rogue leaders.  My counter is, when do Warlord heroes get a benefit from Warlord leaders?  If something like that is added in, I would be more ok with it.  However, I believe this functionality is outside the scope and intent of the balance mod.  The balance mod should not add "new" features, such as the concept of class heroes getting bonuses based upon the class of the leader.

In summary, I highly suggest not implementing any rule that augments a hero based upon a leader skill.

Hello everyone!
Looks like we got a massive crash of the database or something, the 3 PBEM tournaments have been swiped off! I hope Markymark has a backup! oO

If the issue can be solved, the next round of the 2nd 8 players tournament should start soon. Sorry, I don't remember what were the pairings but for the winners + the loser of the winner bracket, please prepare for your next match. You can already send your class / race to the judges, or wait until the roster is back to send it.

For the 1st 8 players tournament: Blackcat vs Skuns is ongoing. When it's finished, we can proceed to next round.

For the 16 players tournament: waiting for Lightform in his match against cbower.

I agree that mind control abilities should be limited. I don`t mind AD05, Neo7, Ro14 and Th09 in new edition. It seems reasonable. I also don`t mind that Healing abilities can be used only once per battle (GC06).

Ok thanks for the feedback! I noted it in the table! Unfortunate that you're against everything and for nothing though.  
https://docs.google.com/docum...
 
Following the latest feedback, we've got 3 new priority changes:  
Ro16  
Leaders and heroes’ Charm has strength 6. When Produce Bard is researched by the player, its strength is improved to 7.  
 
GC08a  
Unity Beacon Tower costs 700 gold (was 1200)  
 
GC09a  
Unity Beacon Fire costs 700 mana (was 1000)  
 
EDIT: I also changed the proposals for Theo, Rogue and Necro to take into account people who were against the preliminary values. So we also have these 3 priority changes: Ne07a Necromancer heroes and leaders can choose Convert Undead at level 5 for 5 points (was level 5 for 4 points) Ro14a Rogue heroes and leaders can choose Charm at level 7 (was 5) for 5 points Th09 Theocrat leaders and heroes can choose Convert at level 9 (was 7) for 7 points (was 5)

Me and my play style is totally against GC10, GC11, AD06, Ro16, Th08, Th09  

For Th09 I think lvl 9-10 and 7-8 points will be enough.

A new poll has been opened to get your opinion on the types of future tournaments that should be organized, check it and vote here: http://www.the-battlefield.co...  
 
PBEM tournaments will use the PBEM balance mod.  
So we need to speed up its development as much as possible. Your feedback on the following proposed changes ("for" or "against") is very welcome!! The changes that make consensus will be included in v1.1 of the mod, which should be released next week.  
 
GC10  
Converted, Charmed, Seduced, etc. units are converted only until the end of Battle and disappear afterwards  
GC11  
Converted units cost more in upkeep:+25% gold / turn  
AD05  
Befriend Animal is available at level 5 for Archdruid heroes and leaders (was 3) and costs 4 (was 3)  
AD06  
Leaders and heroes’ Befriend Animal has strength 6. When Summon Eldritch Animal is researched by the player, its strength is improved to 8.  
Ne07  
Necromancer heroes and leaders can choose Convert Undead at level 7 for 5 points (was level 5 for 4 points)  
Ne08  
Leaders and heroes’ Control Undead has strength 6. When Summon Banshee is researched by the player, its strength is improved to 8.  
Ro14  
Rogue heroes and leaders can choose Charm at level 7 (was 5) for 7 points (was 5)  
Ro15  
Rogue heroes and leaders’ Charm is a touch ability (was Short range)  
Ro16  
Leaders and heroes’ Charm has strength 6. When Produce Bard is researched by the player, its strength is improved to 7.  
Th08  
Leaders and heroes’ Convert has strength 7. When Produce Evangelist is researched by the player, its strength is improved to 9.  
Th09  
Theocrat leaders and heroes can choose Convert at level 13 (was 7) for 7 points (was 5)

I made videos of my match against cbower in Round 6 of the tournament too. You can check them here:
Round 6 - Goblin Theocrat vs Dwarf Rogue: https://www.youtube.com/playl...

It also ended in 11 turns but this time I lost! It was mainly self inflicted with a very poor start on turns 1 to 3 (lost 4 units) and then a big mistake on turn 6 or 7 when I lost my leader. I started to significantly increase my strength on turn 10 but it was too late as cbower was already on me.

@1st 8 players tournament: no news of Blackcat and Skuns - did your game start?

ANNOUNCEMENT: there will be a 2 vs 2 team tournament at some point this year. You're encouraged to look for a partner and train!
The site has a "team tool": you can create your team (My Account -> My Team) or join one. Check the teams here: http://www.the-battlefield.co...
There is also a team ranking: http://www.the-battlefield.co...
New features will probably be developed for team (team chat, posts only visibile by team members in gaming blogs).

Evgendil joined !!

16 players tournament: cbower beat me so round 7 is about to start. It's cbower vs Lightform. Please send your class / race to the judges and wait until the round has officially started (after cbower reports our game) so that the host has been randomly selected by the system.

1st 8 players tournament: still waiting for the matches between Skuns & Blackcat and Sjow & Gilafron.

2nd 8 players tournament: round 3 has officially started on 26 April.

We are moving forward to prepare the PBEM balance mod for next tournament (mod available here: http://steamcommunity.com/sha... and one of the key issue it seeks to fix is Necro. cbower confirmed the feasibility of one fix but said it would require a lot of work. 
 
We would thus need more feedback to choose the fix to Greater Reanimate undead preferred by the community. 
Basically, we've got 4 options: 

 

1. make it target only allied units (Ne05a)
 

2. make it available later and at a higher cost (Ne05c, Ne05f)
 

3. limit it targets and especially make it impossible to reanimate Death Bringers (Ne05b, Ne05d, Ne05e)
 

4. limit its targets at the beginning but then make it evolve to a stronger ability when techs are researched (Ne05)
 

 
Personally, I favour option 4/ because it has a smaller impact on Single player experience and is thus more likely to be adopted by Triumph. 
Here are the detailed candidates changes: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Ne05	GRU7 * “Lesser Reanimate Undead” is a prerequisite of Greater Reanimate Undead (GRU). GRU is available at level 11 (was level 7), for 8 points (was 7 points). GRU works only on allied units and only on T1 and T2.  When a Necromancer player researches all its T1, T2, T3, and T4 strategic techs, GRU is upgraded to the current version (target T1 to T4 units and restore 100% health)
Ne05a	Greater Reanimate Undead – works only on YOUR undeads, restores 75% HP (was 100%). Needs Lesser Reanimate Undead as prerequisite.
Ne05b	Greater Reanimate Undead works only on T1, T2 and T3 (was up to T4)
Ne05c	GRU1 * Increase cost of GRU: 6 -> 8
Ne05d	GRU3 * Make mind-control immune and ghoul-curse immune units also immune against enemy unit reanimation
Ne05e	GRU3bis * Make it impossible to target cadavers of Death Bringers
Ne05f	GRU6 * Increase the level required to choose it: 7 -> 9

 
 
 
Please provide feedback here on the gaming blog or there: http://aow.triumph.net/forums... 
 
+ I proposed new settings (weak starting armies, village start, etc.) which you can discuss here: http://aow.triumph.net/forums...

Thanks for providing the videos. They were very educational.

I only played necromancer once, but I noticed that it seemed a lot more forgiving than other classes. It's funny how you can make so many mistakes early on and still end up with an overwhelming army so quickly.

Nice work Hiliadan. 

Well if it wasn't obvious that Necro were broken it certainly is now!

The last match of the 16 players tournament just finished. It was not a very nice match as both Eskild and I played Necro and tried to abuse it + I got serious hardware issues. In the end, I was better at exploiting Necro and won on turn 10.
I made several videos of my match against Eskild in the PBEM tournament and commented them. You can find the playlist with the 7 episodes here: https://www.youtube.com/playl...
Each episode is about 3 and 22 minutes and show 1 or 2 turns.
For people doubting the strength of Necro, I strongly recommend watching episode #5 where I (more than?) double the size of my army and just exterminate Eskild which has no way to fight back. It's here : https://www.youtube.com/watch...
Your feedback on the videos are very welcome! I plan to do videos again on my game against cbower and I strongly encourage other players to do the same.

So round 6 officially starts today and it's only cbower vs me.
cbower, please send your class / race to Markymark and Fistandantilus, I'm going to do the same.
It looks like I'm host, I'm going to post the settings!

Thanks to Eskild for his feedback on the post on the forum http://aow.triumph.net/forums/topic/balance-based-on-hard-data-from-the-pbem-tournament/ and to gabthegab for his feedback here and on the chat.

There may be a bug on the 2nd 8 players PBEM tournament: please do not start round 3 as hatifnat and Tussel may not have finished their match (I'm waiting for a reply from Markymark but it seems there is a bug and the match is not finished).

Please also note the current status of warnings given in the tournament:
16 players tournament:

gabthegab	1 1 reload justified with screenshot during round 3
Eskild	Class / race sent after match started? during round 3
Hiliadan	6 3 reloads without proof (screenshot, etc.): 1 during round 1 (crash during upload), 1 during round 2 (computer overheating and shutdown) and another 1 during round 3 (at first load) 1 reload with screenshots after a failed upload (due to internet loss during the upload) during rematch of round 3 2 reloads with screenshots and videos after computer crashes on round 5 (including a x2 reload on same turn)
cbower	1 Slightly strange reload, without proof (screenshot, etc.) during round 2

1st 8 player tournament:
No warning

2nd 8 players tournament:

rrrrookie	2 2 slightly strange reloads (1 after upload failed and 1 at launch), without proof (screenshot, etc.) during round 1. Final warning given!
gladis	2 1 did not publish the screenshots of the settings during round 1 1 did not send his class / race before match start in round 2
EarL1893	1 1 did not send his class / race before match start in round 2

We are not yet clear how we will merge them at the end, but I believe that players from the 2 eight players tournaments will fight each other and the winner will play against the winner of the 16 players tournament, for the big final.
So you would play one additional match only if you win all your matches. If you lose one match, it's less certain. We need to discuss it but I don't think we will solve this issue now, it's not very urgent (and the balance discussion takes a lot of time), sorry.

Thanks for the feedback on the Necro solution. I'll add your opinion "For" the solutions you mentioned in the table.