Currently, Generals have a disadvantage against their Assassin counterparts.  Assassins need only to buy gear.  Generals need to buy gear and idols, diverting precious resources to create their minion army. This means that a General will always be lagging behind in regards to gear, and I don't belive that their minions currently make up for that lack.

It has been suggested that Generals receive a gold boost to compensate for the extra material they need to buy. The most obvious side effect I see is that the General could instead plow their extra cash into gear, artifacts, and citadel updates instead and become a quazi-Assassian. I'm sure that others who are better at the meta game then I that could find other way to abuse this.

I have a different suggestion. Generals get their idols when they level up.  They could get an "idol point" each level for their first 12 levels, with the idols themselves part of a skill tree, giving them some flexibility as to which idols they choose and when.

An example skill tree:
Minotaur Idols are available at levels 1, 2, 5, 8

Archer Idols are available at levels 1, 3, 6, 9

Priest Idols are available at levels 1, 4, 7, 10

Thoughts? Comments?