devs are making mistakes that other games have already made.
every single decision, I have experienced something similar before.
I know 6v6 wouldn't work because there was a dead 4-direction game have tried 5v5; 8v8; one-life; multiple lives in their beta...(Iron Knight)
Battle mode anyone can freely join? tried in M&&B1.
Battle mode with queue? tried in Iron Knight
Captain? Tigher knight
there is even more. Inf only -- Of Kings And Men has tried
super OP Throwing spears -- CRPG early version has tried (then "fixed")
I just watching all failures repeating.
Then we will find CRPG is the final solution...
you need a certain amount of players from a limited player base (no queue battle mode)
you need to have some statistics to split players into 2 sides (gain exp and gold, calculate player's abilities by level)
you need clear phases of a battle (one life)
you want all 3 main classes to have their jobs to do (nerf shields, nerf arrow damage, nerf cav turning speed)
So the problem will become:
custom server pls.