Tomorrow is Thursday, January 26th!!!!!

I don't have any answers but I share your enthusiasm for FE.I can't wait.

Make your own sovereign, and when presented with the options for faction (top-centre) click "New"... then go ahead and make magic loving folks!

Pariden is very difficult, in my opinion, as a first-time. Resoln has much stronger early-game power, and gains faction-unique spells as well.

WOW!!!!

I received the mail with beta invite this second!!!!

Check yours!

Regards.

Just received the email...3:00 PM EST tomorrow.

From the several games I've played thus far, Altar has always taken off to commanding scores, usually 300+ by 200 turns or so.

I've had a few crashes so far but its to be expected its Beta, however I think you will be please with the state of the game in comparison to WoM, I was

I have a custom sov with no spell books.  If you load up on all the good traits they become extremely over powered.  Of course it's very game breaking, but that is the point of beta. 

As for Pariden, going that route actually makes the game challenging in the early turns.  If you don't get a melee hero right away you are stuck unable to kill the creatures running around.  Which means you can't really level.  The only solution I've found is to go heavy down the warfare tree and use normal troops. 

Odd, I haven't received my email yet.  I will wait and see I guess.

Pariden seems to be the most magic focussed in a 'life' based sense so many of the spells are buffs and not many do damage. You need to use these spells to slow the enemy and buff and heal your troops. The benefit here is the extra mana you get each turn so you tend to use spells a lot.

Resolin is the magic-focussed 'death' based faction where the spells tend to be more about hindering the enemy and reducing their defences etc. They also get extra mana.

The other races all play a little differently. In a recent game I was playing Kraxis and my sovereign was a fully decked out fire mage but because I wasn't getting much mana each turn I had to pick when and where I would use the spells. Fire magic is the traditional damage spells.

I still have not received my beta invite, and I know for sure that I should be eligible for this round of beta invites that is going out 

E-mails don't go out all at the same time.  It's takes time to get them out.  Regardless, you can just check your account tomorrow afternoon.

Wheeeheeee... i got the e-mail. Thanks SD for the opportunity to be part of this. And 3.00 EST, that means the beta is aviable around 9.00pm. Perfect time!

Got back in a few mins ago, and my e-mail came at 12:15 EST!!!!   Counting down.... 23 hours and 3 mins.....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you're looking for a straightforward mage and don't mind playing Fallen try playing Magnar the Fire Mage.  Key things to keep in mind you need to reduce the cost of casting spells when playing a mage sovereign, so make sure you get "Path of the Mage" (+6 intelligence, -25% tactical spell costs, +50% spell damage) and Affinity (-25% to mana cost of Tactical Spells) hero upgrades as soon as possible.  Mana will always be in short supply if you're main stack is full of casters, so look for mana shards you can grab and cap.

Also sooner or later you'll run into something which is invulnerable to Fire so either on Magnar or one of your other heroes, make sure you get other schools of magic.

Downloading!!!!!!

i haven't got the email yet