I have to agree that it gets too long. Even without the war drums, everyone everywhere from far away joins in the battle and sometimes the AI enemies stand there for a good minute before doing anything. I'd like it if only a small portion of the visual vicinity were agree at a time to let the fights move along smoothly. When you have 12+ enemies and only 4 players with crappy limited movement the combat feels so taxing. And I usually try to avoid combat with diplomacy but unless you're a Drow that does NOT always fly well.
