[WraithLord]

Ahmm, we shall see as the game progresses how effective indeed are the bless nations under these research settings.

This discussion is being conducted on too many general lines. Like bless nations like this and EA nations are that, etc. Not all bless nations are same, not all EA nations armies are same. There's a lot of room for nuances.

Hvy bless is very good early in the game and later gives diminishing returns. This is always true, no argument here.
With hard research it would seem as though the "early" game takes longer thus favoring bless nations.
However, to counter that are: a- bless nations struggle even more with research and b- If you don't have a bless nation and prepare for hard research you can get to the key spells your nation needs real fast. Like take awake research pretender +M2/3 scales.

Let's see what conclusions we'll be able to draw from this game. If we find that bless nations ruled the day I will certainly consider hard research a mistake. Meantime I ask for your patience. Let the game develop a bit before reaching conclusions.