Just a Bump here. I believe these are valid points, and I'd much rather see Grove Guards sacred than Dryad Hoplites. They are significantly overpriced for their effect.

Awe doesn't even increase with experience, so as the game progresses and the game evolves with units with more morale (Mindless, summoned, etc) they lose their place and NE can't afford to waste a bless effect on a unit that has no survivability and their special effect is almost totally nulled.

They even lost their Hoof attack, poor little girls.