Well, that's true. However, as Tien Chi's buroucrats have said, the bless is useful not only for the Sacred troops. It's good for evocation mages too (gives them 2 lifes, with twist-fate, high MR -good for Bane thugs too- Reinvigoration, and high afliction rate with battlefield evocations.
However, it's my first MP game with Ermor, I'm kinda noob in MP (only 4-5 games) and I've probably messed a couple things, so any debate about my strategy (later on) will be very appreciated :P.
On the economic side: yes, scales are bad. However, the 80% of 1000 is more than the 120% of 500, so it depends on how much you manage to expand as well as the scales. I'm on avereage right now in Income, and that's becouse I lost a battle today (damn lost arrow, hit the priest :/ ). Otherwise, I would had take three provinces this turn, making my Income in the top 3 of the game for now.
I understand that, later in the middle game, I'll suffer from it. Let's see if I manage it fine
