A minor Q/A with someone from the HotA team on the Heroes 3 forum. Compiled for convenience sake, spelling errors left in tact.
Q: *Is Factory going to pretty much completely replace Forge? So there will be no new town named Forge or a town which would mimic most of "the original Forge line-up" in the future? (atleast for now?)*
A: One cannot replace what was never introduced or even planned to be. Forge is neither of those. That being said, yes - Factory is meant to leverage certain elements and ideas that could be paramount to the concept of Forge. We aren't talking about visuals but about being the most technologically advanced town of all (for Forge, that was the entire idea; for Factory, it is one of many). Still, it could be argued that Factory is going to take over this niche. Moreover, select homages to the original Forge might yet happen not only within Factory as a town, but also other future HotA content, including Factory campaigns.
Q: *For a long time, it seemed that Forge would be the next released town in Hota. I would say this was still the case for about 2 years ago. What made you change the plans along the way?*
A: This is a common misconception. Forge never was announced as a town in HotA or even planned down to any kind of a roadmap. All Forge-related activity was limited to sporadic individual efforts of some crew members dating back to the period from 2011 to 2013, taken completely at their own behest. Some of those materials were published by their creators, like the town screen by Don_ko, but no further developments have happened on that front since. Thus, speaking about changed plans would be a mistake. Factory is new plans, not a replacement of old ones.
Q: *Are we gonna see any new specialties from Factory heroes?*
A: Most likely.
Q: *If the Factory show up in next updates will be some artifacts of "Ancients" ? Or this fraction dont heave any bissnes with them ?*
A: Something of that sort might make an appearance in the campaigns, but it's too early to discuss such things.
Q: *They are some rumors about talking the "Factory" will be more like alien rase from another world its this true ? (I hope we can find in campaning )*
A: No.
Q: *In the trailer You show us new city with the name "New Dolere" witch it was name of orginal planing city of Forge that NWC abound.Are You planing to add some easter eggs in Factory like lvl 7 unit name Jugernout/Drednought ? Or maybe even hero name "Kastore" ?*
A: Yes, we are.
Q: *Do You plan to add some neutral creatures to the game in style of Factory in the future ?*
A: Most likely.
Q: *How much we must wait to get Factory playable ?*
A: No earlier than a year from now.
Q: *I Love the 2nd and 3nd lvl unit Than You show us (The truth its i love You all units but this 2 stole my hart )Will the 2nd unit gona heave flamethrower ? It will be nice to heave something in game and i hope 3nd will heave some two-handed pistol/shotgun*
A: Yes, it's a flamethrower indeed.
Q: *Everyone familiar with NWC's Forge knows it was planned that even some non-level 7 creatures would cost special resources like crystal and gems. Will we see these kinds of elements in Factory? / As Factory is a "tech-town", I don't personnally see any of the current warmachines fitting for them. So will they receive a warmachine made just for them? / How far does Factory Mage Guild go, level 3, 4 or 5? / Cove was connected to Water Magic, what element is Factory connected to?*
A: Such details will be made public in due time.