I brought my brother into the game and his reactions were depressing: "Honestly, it feels like a slap in the face that I paid $25 and now I have to pay for ANY heroes to play other races in CO-OP."

EDIT: Wow. Thanks folks. I had no idea we could play with heroes for free until level 5. That makes so much more sense. Yet, we were confused that we were allowed to play with them because it said "Purchase"

I've been the biggest fan of FG and have done my best to bring friends into the game. Their reactions have been depressing.

• "I paid $25 and now I have to buy heroes? WTF. I'm refunding this game."
• Units look generic and uninspired (particularly Vanguard)
• Fantasy of strong AIR unit army impossible with Vanguard (Carriers feel basically useless, why do I have to invest in bombers, too? This is so stupid.)

This leads me to the following observation:

• According to FG, Most people play Campaign & Co-op
• From my own experience, Vanguard are the least interesting race to play (Infernals and Celestials sell Stormgate much better)
• We've seen tons of cases of people being upset about having to pay for heroes in Co-op (in my brothers case, its bad because he really wanted to try the other races in co-op but was paywalled out of it).

Please, FG, I beg you: make 1 Hero for each race free to play in Co-op. (Or at least make 1 infernal hero free in Co-op so people can try another race).