Fire Emblem Heroes is arguably one of the most polarizing entries in the franchise, thanks to its many mechanics and features that tend to be met with mixed receptions, particular units and the banners featuring them.
- The Voting Gauntlet has proven to be divisive since its introduction. Even on the very concept the fans are divided between those who enjoy it and find it entertaining, and those who hate it for being a "glorified popularity contest" where the winner has long been decided based on how big their fanbase is, leading to what many consider unfair matchups (ex. Lucina vs Sharena). On the gameplay side, there are detractors who accuse the people that encourage picking unpopular heroes solely so that they can rack up more points and get better rewards. To which the fans retort that this mechanic at least gives an incentive to fight for your favorite character and still be rewarded even if you aren't in the winning team. Then the devs introduced various features to the event in order to enhance it and address the most common complaints. Most notably by introducing a score multiplier for the currently losing team that increases over time, allowing them to even the odds and have a chance to win even if the popularity difference should make it an obvious win for the opposing team. But then people started abusing the mechanic through Gameplay Derailment to snipe victories from their opponent by suddenly coming back and getting ahead of the opponent right before the round closed (ex. Gaius vs Leo, Lyn vs Camilla, Olwen vs Ishtar). Obviously, one side is calling out the other for depriving the event of meaning and ask for the comeback mechanic to be fixed while the other side claims they're only playing strategically and the opponent team should have done the same. And then there are those who don't like the luck-based variables revolving everything that can lead to subpar individual performances, while others love the unpredictability. Unlike the Tempest Trials, where the dev team managed to successfully address the complaints with each new iteration, the Voting Gauntlet is still heavily criticized as of now.
- The seasonal paralogue banners that portray characters, most of them already in Heroes, in alternate outfits has caused a major divide between fans and detractors. Some enjoy seeing their favorite characters dressed up, especially since several of these banners are a direct Mythology Gag to DLC in Awakening and Fates. Many others, including detractors of the latter two games, feel that those banners overly focus on them, dislike the fanservice, and/or would rather have new characters introduced to Heroes. There is a third camp who like the idea of seeing their favorite characters receive seasonal alts but believe that Awakening and Fates receive too much focus. Fortunately for these fellows, starting from the 2018 seasonal banners, there's generally less focus on Awakening and Fates characters. However, Three Houses started to become a target of some scorn when both of the non-Harmonic Summer banners of 2020 featured strictly heroes from that game, making people wonder history is repeating again (and with similar arguments).
- Legendary and Mythic Hero banners. Half the fandom really likes the fact that they remove all but the specific 5*'s, meaning that compared to any other banner, players have a better chance at getting unique or special heroes that are rare or highly sought after for skills or use. Also, the addition of the new Legendary/Mythic Hero means the player can get a special variant hero that can help players create special teams based around the Legendary/Mythic elemental effect, so many people find them to be the best way to spend orbs and often will save up for them. The other half despises Legendary/Mythic banners because their 5* pool is significantly smallernote , meaning the increased percentage rate to get a new 5* is debatably worse than a normal banner, causing many to waste time and money pulling and getting nothing. It doesn't help that, with the exception of each books new Legendary/Mythic Hero given for free, Legendary Ike, and Altina for a limited time, you cannot get the Legendary/Mythic Heroes without pulling. At the end of the day, the debate focuses on if the banners are fair to players, or a bait for money that are not worth investing in.
- How non-Heroes characters get selected for Legendary Variants. It's been heavily debated on what category of characters deserve a Legendary variant, and what category doesn't. While it's been initially argued that only lord characters and avatars can get Legendary variants, the inclusion of Ryoma meant that it is agreed that non-Heroes character with at least some sort of plot relevance in their games can get a legendary variant, and this is later followed by Tiki, Azura, Julia, and Lilina. However, the latter getting one in December 2020 greatly divided players, which resulted in another debate as to whether or not a character with a larger presence in their game's plot can qualify for a legendary variant over a heroine with minimal plot presence, and that was divided even further after Micaiah, the last lord character without one at the time, got one in August 2021. From Legendary Fae onward, any new Legendary Hero that isn't Heroes-exclusive are mostly non-lords with a few avatar characters in the mix, but the debates continue to persist.
- Male vs. female representation. One side: You have players thanking the devs for giving characters, often females, a second chance to shine outside of their games where they may or may not have been overlooked; that others should be grateful their favorite, often a male given "supbar" treatment, even made the cut, that Fire Emblem Heroes at the end of the day is a gacha game driven by the market and thus sales so certain moves are understandable; plenty male characters are strong (ex. Caineghis, Astram, Shannan, etc.) in the face of shafted popular females (ex. Marisa, L'Arachel, Anna, etc.); and that one's love of a character should supersede how they were presented. The other side: Plenty non-Lord males demonstrably more popular, thus having more demand and sales-potential, than many female characters were wasted while the latter were given "preferential" treatment (ex. Canas vs. Karla is often the go-to argument, and the introduction of Haar is right beside that debate); that the offending scenario is far more common than the inverse; that for such a "sales-driven" tactic the game is losing revenue compared to years before; and that love for the character only goes so far when Power Creep can rapidly leave them a Low-Tier Letdown. Repeat ad nauseum every time IS decides to shaft a male (especially if they're the only 4-star focus male in a female filled banner, which has been rather common since the mechanic was introduced), especially a popular non-Lord one, juxtaposed to more decked-out female characters, popular or otherwise. The fact that each new story book's free unit is a female character also makes the debate more exhausting, since some find it to be unfair that not a single male OC has been given out as a free story character, while others find that it would clash with Alfonse being The Hero of the story, or just like having a new female character.
- Resplendent Heroes as a concept, ignoring their connection to the Feh Pass, have been a polarizing addition since its inception. Some feel that they are a good addition, citing that the unique themed costumes help give old launch units a new look without needing to give a seasonal alt that often fit the character in questionnote , especially when some units (like Cordelia and Sophia) were saddled with what was seen as poor quality art at launch. Plus, the additional +2 to all stats makes each one keep their relevance in gameplay, especially if a player invests Dragonflowers, giving each unit a minimum +5 to all statsnote . Others don't like it because many of the themed costumes can feel random and don't fit the character at all, or are seen as worse than their launch artnote , and feel the +2 to all stats incentivizes Bribing Your Way to Victory since having any of the units with extra stats, while some might not, is not fair to those who refuse/can't afford them. Furthermore, the fact that a good number of the units are locked at 5 star rarity means players can't even use the ones they want if they don't have the hero in question, making some players who would want it simply not being able to because of poor luck.note There is something of a middle group who feel that the concept is great and that the bonuses are good, but feel the fact you have to pay for it to be a major problem, as the costumes should be in game rewards not unlike other gacha games which do something similar.
- Harmonized Heroes are very divisive to discuss among the fandom. Since June 2020, there has been a release of one every other month, which corresponds with the seasonal banner at the time and includes two characters from different games, forming a variation of a Duo Hero. Some fans love Harmonized Heroes due to the fun interactions they get, and how the developers tend to setup the pairing in advance, such as Mia/Masked Marth (who interacted with each other quite a bit during two Tempest Trials events), Altina/Sanaki (Sanaki being Altina's descended), and Xander/Veronica (who in the game, bonded with each other), and love how powerful and unique they are as units, since they often act as a Composite Character of the two (such as Xander/Veronica being a mounted Stone Wall unit). Others feel that Harmonized Heroes are too random compared to Duo Heroes and come across as poorly slapped together, such as Spring Myrrh and Nah (the only connection they seem to have is just being Dragons and young looking), Plegian Dorothea and Lene (both performers, and that's about it), and Summer Caeda and Plumeria (the two have nothing in common, one of whom is an antagonist mind you). The "lead" unit also gets a lot of flak as well, being accused of taking the spotlight. There's also the fact their harmonized skills only works on characters from the same games as them, which can seriously limit team composition (compared to the Duo Heroes which don't have such restriction).
- The addition of Ascended Stats has become a polarizing subject since its announcement and release in 2021. While pretty much everyone likes that you can boost a unit's power by now giving them another Asset, and that it does not count towards Arena scoring, the fact it is tied to summoning an Ascended Hero is where the divide comes from. Some think getting one after summoning an Ascended Hero is terrible design because it encourages Bribing Your Way to Victory, as you have to get a single copy of said hero to get an Ascended Flower, which isn't helped by the player only getting one Ascended Flower per new Ascended Hero, meaning you need to continually roll till you get them to benefit from it, while others think it isn't an issue because you only need one copy, thus preventing situations where whaling to get the unit could lead to a player getting multiple Ascended Flowers, which could be a total game breaker if possible, and players can save enough orbs to get the unit if they manage to roll 40 times. In addition, while the second Asset does not count for scoring purposes, getting a unit to have two stats they have as an Asset makes some units more overpowered than they should (such as Fallen Edelgard being able to get her Res and Def boosted by this), which some see a huge problem in the meta, while others see it as a way to help units who have several stats they need enhanced but can't due to having a stat that takes priority over it, especially older units or units who want to have flexible stat lines (such as Regular Myrrh, who benefits from having all her stats be high). While the developers thankfully gave one for free, the debate remains over if it is fair or not, for similar reasons as Resplendent Heroes.
- Another issue involving some of the seasonal banners is the New Years and Halloween banners. While all of the other banners have different rotating games and themes going on, both aforementioned banners don't. Since the second New Years banner (2019), it has always been themed around the Heroes based characters and since the third one (2020), it has shared the spotlight with Beast units, which has been a mainstay since. As for the Halloween banners, every banner from 2020 to 2022 had been predominantly dragon focused (with only a few small exceptions). Some fans like the fact that the Fire Emblem Heroes characters get their chance in the spotlight for the New Years, while some feel like they've overstayed their welcome and would rather want other characters instead, feeling like using the same theme since 2020 is too stale and predictable. As for the Halloween ones, some feel like most of the Dragon units are generally powerful additions and come from a variety of games as opposed to one-two select games, but some feel like they don't really have enough variety compared to previous Halloween banners.
