Those heroes did little to nothing in terms of strategy. As simple as making heroes "upgradeable" sound, its the upgrade that changes the dynamics of play.
I believe they only gained experience from Red Alert 2 onwards. Don't think War 3 took the idea from them anyway since the idea of experienced units came from an older game, KKND.
Different colors and different "final weapon" makes them distinct?
I agree. I think the fitting phrase would be "injecting new life to an old genre".
MaxJenius:
I was hoping it somehow went the route of Dawn of War in terms of style of play, but it stayed true to its roots for better or worse, ie: badly scaled units , units that do nothing much on their own ie: a wraith can't even kill an infantry in 2-3 shots...... that sorta thing, but otherwise fast and furious gameplay......and forces you to be on your toes always.