Why are the Ptolemaioi such a hated faction?

[Marcus Ulpius]

The better balancing idea for the Ptolies would be raising the unrest levels everywhere in Egypt except the Delta region so that they would have to use more troops garrisoning, or restricting their recruitment refresh rate for elite Hellenistic units (I don't think it's possible in RTW), after all they could not field huge armies full of heavy Galatians and agema phalanxes, but that's to some extent true for any other Diadochi kingdom.

Kingdom of Judea is not an option, they were totally irrelevant on the political arena at that time, had no expansionist ambitions and were nothing more than a playground for big boys to play - first Egypt and Persia (or even Babylonia earlier), then Ptolies and the AS.

[The General]

The better balancing idea for the Ptolies would be raising the unrest levels everywhere in Egypt except the Delta region so that they would have to use more troops garrisoning

Considering that (iirc!) the Qarthadastim get increased unrest levels in Iberia, this could, and in my opinion, should be implemented to some degree.

or restricting their recruitment refresh rate for elite Hellenistic units (I don't think it's possible in RTW)

Not possible with the R:TW engine, but...

after all they could not field huge armies full of heavy Galatians and agema phalanxes, but that's to some extent true for any other Diadochi kingdom.

... will be possible with the M2:TW engine, and will be a feature of EBII (for every faction).

Kingdom of Judea is not an option, they were totally irrelevant on the political arena at that time, had no expansionist ambitions and were nothing more than a playground for big boys to play - first Egypt and Persia (or even Babylonia earlier), then Ptolies and the AS.

I agree, the Judeans were not in a position to form a strong nation with expansionist goals - so, when Judea rebels, it should just rebel, imho, not form a one province nation only to be gobbled up by the larger powers the next turn (all the while using one of those very, very precious faction slots).