Greetings,
I share the same opinion as Hamanathnath. It is very hard to choose a favourite faction, because all of them have their own unique quirks and tricks that make the factions stand out and very identifiable in the process. You could say that already choosing two favourite factions is very generous of the team, yet I would choose all the factions if I could
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Nonetheless, if I really had to pick two, I would pick one good faction and one evil faction based mostly on personal gameplay experience and meta observation:
1. Rohan for the good faction: Their playstyle just gets me. Trampling your enemies under a wave of horses sounds amazing. I also think that Kryptik worded it better than I probably ever could: ''They are just normal people, with a strong love for horses, surrounded in a world by mythical creatures and horrors, magical powers, wizards, immortals etc, yet they still manage to kick butt, with their bravery and selfless/heroic deeds.'' Also, a large, versatile hero roster and their Anglo-Saxon inspired appearance greatly contributes in favour to my choice. With the fact that Rohan is often seen as the black sheep of competitive play, I have a soft spot for it. Stand up for oppressed Rohan! In all seriousness, the recent changes might give Rohan another chance at competitive play, and hopefully finally grant it a place inbetween the competitive lategame giants such as Gondor and Mordor.
2. Isengard for the evil faction: Their playstyle just fits the RTS concept in my opinion. You have to master your economy first, before mastering the creation of a versatile army. The Uruk-Greatshields are among some of my favourite evil units, turning squads into walking tanks and deviating from this image that Evil factions cannot organise legions of lethal warriors, unlike Mordor, where most of the troops are poorly organised, and unlike Angmar, where only a handful of elite keep everything together (In the concept at least). Because of this, and Isengard's use of explosives, and last but not least, Christopher Lee (RIP), I mean Saruman, what is there not to enjoy?
Honourable mentions:
1. If Gondor/Arnor would receive a visual overhaul with some of its units, to better match the current level of the artstyle that ET now employs, especially regarding pivotal units such as Tower Guards, Citadel Guards, and Men of the White Company for Gondor and the default, non-elite troops for Arnor, the choice would have been that much harder to make. They did not make the cut mostly because of that haha.
2. Lothlorien was also pretty close, because of their unique design. The base is so neatly made, and their spells/heroes are very fun to use. The raining arrows playstyle is interesting too I suppose.
Other comments:
I apologise for this whole blob of text, but I just felt like I had to do it, to make sure I justify the other factions as well. Angmar is interesting and well-made, but I find it much too early and the faction is still too young and fresh, with relatively little meta exposure, to truly express my opinion about the faction.
Mordor feels like that moment after having gone out, being dehydrated, sweaty and starving from all the clubbing and drinking, and then seeing that delicious, fat snack online, or at the snackbar/in the fridge. You know it's bad for you, and you know it's the bastard child of the mod and a little bad for the health of the game, but you enjoy it nonetheless. The easiest to play faction, with the spamming being somewhat counterproductive to strategic play, but the faction still has its cool features and unique quirks such as Sauron's magnificent level system (Which is the biggest enticement for playing Mordor for me) and its monstrous creatures.
Finally, Dwarves are kind of like the overhyped faction, getting a ton of attention from the fans due to the Hobbit Trilogy being the most recent LOTR work, and the whole MOTY extravaganza on Moddb leading to a serious influx of fresh faces on the forums. Also, the fact that Dwarves were utter hell to face in vanilla gameplay give me a very slight negative bias to the Dwarves. Nonetheless, the realms system being the most interesting feature, with the tunnel system being somewhat of a 50/50 fun mechanic, the travel camp and mithril mail system being unique, and finally, the insane siege that they have are some factors that make the Dwarves a fun faction to play still. Oh, how could I forget, the new models for 4.3 look flipping amazing. Seriously, have you seen the Dwarven Elite units? 0.o
Well, that was more typing that I had expected it to be. Me? I'm just waiting for the eventual Imladris to kick Rohan from its spot.
If you read all of this, triple huzzahs for you!
Kind regards,
Odysseus