FAVOR ITEMS DO NOT RUIN THE GAME
the add to a characters diversity, a tb without swift anklet has a quite different playstyle to one with one, and pharm ai's online if u care that much, after 6 games (2 hours max) ull be able to afford any item. hurr durr.
Exactly, favour items add diversity and basically opens up more available builds. There are decent favour items available after 1-2 games that close most of the gap until you can save for 1-2 of the more expensive ones.
Fact is, new players won't lose to experienced players because of favour items, they will lose because of the experience difference. General gameplay knowledge like which flags are which on the map, knowledge of both your own and your oponents likely skills/builds, as well as which item combos from the store work and which don't are far bigger factors than the favour item. This assumes that the new player actually has experience playing this time of game, if they arent familiar with basic rts tactics/controls they have even bigger things to worry about.
Anyway +1 keep favour items, hell i'd like it if they diversified even more, added a tab for dark/light aspect favour items linked to winning pantheon and things like that. As long as they keep their power somewhere in the range it is now, and continue to tweak the stats on them if needed, the positives of favour items far outweigh the negative.
I hadn't played Demigod in beta or anything like that, and had played next to no DoTA. For most of this week I couldn't even buy a Favour item as I was stuck in negative favour with none unlocked (I bought an Assassin only item, played a general next, was in negative favour with no items cause of bug. Next time on an assassin I didnt have access to the item I had bought, leaving me nothing and unable to gain favour). During this time with no favour I won at least 90% of the games I played. Just understand that you will be weak early game, and don't go suiciding on the enemy is straight up 1v1.