Could someone please explain War of Magic/FE/LH to a newbie?

War of Magic is the first in the "Elemental" games.

Fallen Enchantress isn't a sequel so much as another game, set later in the same world, with "mostly" the same mechanics as the first game.
(Yes, just about everyone will tell you Fallen Enchantress is "better" than War of Magic) 

Legendary Heroes is an expansion pack for Fallen Enchantress, that is really going to help retool it into even more of it's own game. It will only be free to those who bought War of Magic ~2 or 3 months of it's release. Otherwise, you will have to pay for it.

Here is a FAQ about Legendary Heroes that might also answer some questions.

https://forums.elementalgame.com/439970

As far as buying it goes, if you already have FE, it will cost 19.99, if you don't, then it's 39.99. The 39.99 also includes FE as well, so if you don't have it it may be best to wait.

UNLESS, you buy FE on steam now, it's on sale at 66% off as part of a Midweek sale, so it's at 13.59, later add on the LH for 19.99 and you'll spend 33.58 total for both. Note, this will only do you any good if you are ok with using Steam.

So... if I buy Fallen Enchantress right now on Steam, I won't get Legendary Heroes when that rolls out in April? Instead, it will cost $20?

Hell, that's basically the same price as the current game.. think I'll just wait until April and see what I'll do. But this game does look nice. Odd how Jon Shafer's At the Gates piqued my interest in this. That game looks wonderful and I read how he helped design Fallen Enchantress and I got intrigued. Is he helping with LH in any way?

oops mispost

Also, could anyone comment on the AI of the game? Does it provide a challenge without feeling like they're cheating? Do they act ignorantly? I've still not played GalCiv 2, but I hear its AI is outstanding. Considering Stardock publishes both games, I'd like to hope Fallen Enchantress is held to a high standard when it comes to AI.

The AI for Stardock games is coded by Brad Wardell (aka Frogboy), the owner of the company.  It is his passion, and he is rather good at it.

What makes him good in my opinion is that his AI's evolve.  What I mean by that is he doesn't just write the AI and walk away.  He continues to tweak it as the game changes (and this game is constantly being improved).  He listens to gamers critiques on the forum.  He takes actual gamer strategies and tries to get the AI emulate them.  He holds himself to a pretty high standard.

Where are we on that journey to the perfect (but unattainable) AI?  Yes, the AI still does some dumb things, but the game will give you a run for your money even if you pick the settings with no AI bonuses (AI cheating?) (What does that say about the average gamer that Frogboy thinks his AI should be able to compete in that environment?).  If you're an experienced 4X strategy player, you can probably win 99 out of 100 times unless you crank up the AI bonuses.  However that also depends on how much the human player cheats with saves & reloads.  After all, most of us come from the James T. Kirk school of command, we hate to lose. 

I'm pretty new to 4X, so I probably don't truly have any business playing on higher difficulties, but it's still nice to hear that. What about each individual leader? Do all of them have different behaviors?

Is this basically like Civ 5 but better? I tried playing Civ 5 in the past, but something about it rubbed me the wrong way. I suppose because it's all about conquering the Earth and yet maps are randomly generated (I know there are mods for that, but eh) plus how real world peaceful leaders can become all crazy. 

There are so many 4X games I need to try. I feel a bit like a hipster, but both Civilization and Total War fail to captivate me. And yet, Heroes of Might and Magic II is amazing and though I've not yet played it, Master of Magic and Master of Orion 1+2 look great, too.

If you don't buy Fallen Enchantress (either now while it's on sale or later when it's not), it will cost you $39.99 for Legendary Heroes (which will include Fallen Enchantress).

Your best bet is to get Fallen Enchantress while it's on sale. If you don't like it, you will have saved a fair amount of coin. And if you do like it, you will still save money if you buy Legendary Heroes.

My question is: Are they still going to support FE after LH comes out? Or are we on the last train to Georgia with this 1.3 update/patch?

I don't really like the changes in LH myself. I like champions on the map to find and I like random levelup choices. I really wish I had a choice of getting it FREE or waiting for something BETTER down the road. It's like they are forcing something as bad as Elemental: War of Magic on me again. Some may like the changelog....I just don't. I like my random games and my best choices I can get out of them not some 1 2 3 upgrades time after time after time. I also don't like having to be required to have Steam installed on my computer. This is getting like Skynet and soon the borgs will be coming for you if you don't assimulate with them through STEAM! "I'll Be BAAAAACKKKKhuh!

My guess is that 1.3 is the end of the road for vanilla FE as far as SD patches go and they're gonna leave the ironing out of the remaining bugs and evolving the game further as a whole to the modding community, while they themselves focus on LH, DLC for LH, expansions for LH etc.

Why? Because they have to think in economic terms... That shows best in the fact that they're now selling vanilla FE for 66% off to squeeze out some extra bucks before releasing LH and for getting some new folks on the screen for vanilla FE to compensate the loss of those of us who won't give in to the attempt to force Steam down our throat and therefore won't purchase FH.

My understanding is LH isn't optional. It's simply a required expansion pack somewhat like Binding of Isaac's Wrath of the Lamb where its new content was integrated into the experience. So LH is still an update to FE, particularly when you consider how it's free to War of Magic users. I might be wrong, though.

 OK, two questions..

1. How can I check the date of my E:WoM purchase? I think it was a preorder, but I can't be sure...

2. When is LH getting released? Also, anyone know when does the beta for it start?

Also, could anyone comment on the AI of the game? Does it provide a challenge without feeling like they're cheating? Do they act ignorantly? I've still not played GalCiv 2, but I hear its AI is outstanding. Considering Stardock publishes both games, I'd like to hope Fallen Enchantress is held to a high standard when it comes to AI.

Don't get all frenzied by the hype. As far as I observed, the AI is pretty standard as far as similar games go - it is able to do some development, it expands and builds, it's able to build armies and send them somewhere... sometimes. That said it is still unable to conduct meaningful diplomacy, it lacks long-term plans, and it does really stupid blunders in tactical combat for which IMO there is no excuse (strategy may be next to impossible to program, that I understand, but to cast web on archers?).

Go to stardock website, login, and go to account section. There should be a link to "My Orders" in there. That'll give you what you are looking for, as long as you purchased through stardock of course.

Beta is supposed to start in next week or so.

Thanks!

Lol at myself, I preordered the game a full year before release

Items: Elemental [Pre-Order] (Digital Download) 
Order Date: Thursday, September 17, 2009

 Yeah, I think I qualify

LOL, yep, I'd say so.

Same day as me also, was probably the first day it was available to pre-order.

I agree with this point. Heroes of Might and Magic 6 also did away with the random choices that all the previous versions had, and I miss the random choices. I also like the random choices in FE when your Hero levels up. It's like Christmas! Let's see what Derek Claus brought me. Or having to decide between an early pick of Potential X and that level up you really want but might not be there next time.

See! See! See! INDY? EVERYBODY agress with me. hehe

I'm with you on this. I like having the actual tree available so we can make informed choices, but I really like that not every option is always available at levelup.

Another question: is LE a bit like Gods & Kings for Civ V where the content is simply layered on top of the existing game?

Nope LH is a stand alone game all of its own. Though they say they will still support FE independently of LH I'm a bit leary that LH is going to take over the progress and you'll HAVE to have it eventually if you want to progress on. I'm not too keen on that because I DON'T LIKE the new changes in LH vs FE. LH is trying to STEAMLINE things and just make the game easier and easier and thus the AI and challenge of it dumber and dumber.

I might be wrong, but I don't understand the idea LE is making things easier/dumber if you're going simply by the things we've learned so far, because it seems to be adding more, not taking away. Or perhaps you're in the beta?