I agree with everyones points here but one i havent seen mentioned is on the campaign map.

The way main factions get wiped out quickly and one city nations become superpowers. In my Macedon game Cimmeria has conquered all of ancient Asia minor (modern day Turkey) except for peraganum and ephesus.
Namomemes has conquered all of Eastern North Africa with a border at carthage with the numidians (begins with M) holding the rest and lillybaeum.

I've seen similar in all my other games. How have they not picked this up in playtesting?