My take

[FrontaLobotomy]

I've been thinking about some options, and thought maybe they were good enough to submit for everyones review. I am really enjoying the game, the balance, strategy, everything.  So, my idea is to really go with customization as far as battle setups go.
Examples
already mentioned in a couple threads, but options to change the number of guards.

selectable hand size

each player places one unit at a time, on any tile.

mana options, maybe a range of 2-4 per turn.

perhaps life adjustments, +\- 25%, 50% etc.

option for random trapped tiles, 2 random tiles deal 1 damage to the first unit to walk over/stop on it.  or instead of damage, the trap inflicts status. 4 tiles, 8 tiles, etc.

There are lots of elements that could be changeable, and would make for endless combinations of new battles, changing the way u play, by changing the environment.
My thought is making the focus not on character creation, but on being able to build a battle any way you want.  I dont know of any other online game like that, with a wide level of customizable battle options. Perhaps in addition to the character development/AI aspects this could be considered.
My $.02

j

[Ross Przybylski]

Thanks for the suggestions Frontal!  I can see how subtle changes to the gameplay as you've mentioned could open up room for a greater variety of game types fitting to everyone's liking. 

I played some Halo Reach today, and I was amazed by the level of customization they've offered and the amount of details you can scruntinize over to create a game perfectly tuned for your playing preference.  You can even save these settings to create a custom game type!  A few of our players have even designed their own unique game scenarios in Hero Mages, and I think it would be pretty awesome to save these settings to create custom game modes as part of the map editor/game creation toolset.

I'm taking vacation all next week and plan on dedicating myself to the completion of the first public AI release.  Once that's up and running, I'll have time to move on to game enhancements like these.  Keep the suggestions comin' I love to hear the feedback.