I loved AoW2 and I think this is one of those rare series where a long-awaited sequel actually manages to improve on the formula. It showed that rather than rushing into a sequel after AoW2, they waited until they actually had enough new ideas to make a compelling product.

I think the combination of classes, specializations and races allows for really cool customization of your characters. Yesterday, I made a theocrat tigran dedicated to neutrality. I tweaked him to evoke cultures where balance is important, and to have some aura of odd mysticism surrounding him. It's really cool that you have all these options. The workshop mods give you even more options.

I like the change they did to hero leveling. More deterministic, you don't find yourself raging at the game for not giving you any good options. As well, the change to only allow one spell per turn was sorely needed. In AoW2, you could make a good mage learn that spell that damages all enemy units, holy wrath I believe, and have all your heroes get enough casting points to cast it once. You start your battle with 3-4 casts of this thing and everything that's not a high tier unit is already dead. Totally broken.

Getting rid of the whole wizard tower mechanic is also good. It really restricted your magic. The new game encourages you to use your leader more aggressively.

I really like it. I didn't really see any problems with what you mentioned.