I love when people say that coh2 is a step backwards, tell me how plz, i would love to read a good explanation about that topic
COH2 borrows some of the basics that made COH1 a good game. Those being squad based combat (including the ability to retreat+reinforce+vet), suppression, cover, and early game combat for resources over resource gathering. It continues the idea of commanders but really fucks it up hard in implementation. When it comes to strategy COH2 is poorer in terms of both faction design (excessive call-ins + lack of meaningful global upgrades) and consistently poor balance that restricts each faction to 1-2 go to strategies for each patch.
When it comes to new features there is a mixed bag, and the good is not enough to overcome the flaws I already covered. Good features would be unit icons in the top corner, reinforcing all troops at the same time, and reverse button. True sight and capture circles aren't bad changes, but they aren't fantastic upgrades either. Concealing troops in cover/smoke (Men of War, Wargame, Steel Div, some COH2 units) is more interesting than playing peekaboo behind a building, but whatever. Vaulting works in two ways- in some maps it dumbs down the early game positioning of your infantry by allowing full frontal attacks rather than needing to attack from multiple angles (such as Angoville), and in other maps its just a micro chore to help navigate excessive fence placement (Vaux Farmlands).
Two other new features that sucked ass were deep snow and blizzards. Even though they are gone now, they existed for half the life of the game and are valid criticisms.