[Chris_Byler]

Blesses were never *just* a 2 morale bonus. In Dom1 they gave +3 att +3 str, the equivalent of a F6B6 under the Dom 2/3 system. (Nearly everyone who cares about their sacreds has a stronger bless than that, often *much* stronger, which is one reason blesses dominate the game so much more than they did in Dom1.)

IMO, the main problem with blesses is the ability to rush with them: why not weaken blesses in enemy dominion? For every 2 candles you get -1 to each path of your bless, or something like that. Rushing people's capitols would be far less effective since the first thing you lose is the quickness and flaming weapons. If you take it slow and push their dominion back while keeping your sacreds in friendly, neutral or near neutral dominion, then they have time to research some counters.