So, has anyone tried playing academy with a planning phase included? I'm wondering if a planning phase would make the game more strategic. When I tried the Academy demo at origins, I was somewhat disappointed about how ridiculously easy it seemed. Apprentice mode was already fairly easy, and based on the demo academy seems to be even less strategic than apprentice mode!
Granted, it was just a demo, and I'm still looking forward to academy as a faster mage wars game than arena, but I'm worried that it won't be a sufficient substitute for Apprentice mode. This is a problem because it undoubtedly WILL replace apprentice mode for the most part, even though they're completely different games. People are going to play academy and NOT apprentice mode because they don't really understand how different they are and that they're both worthwhile to play.
Was it just the demo of academy that's so easy and less strategic than apprentice mode? If not, does including a planning phase help make academy more strategic, and is it still balanced that way?
