I got this bad feeling that after DoW3, relic will only diminish into a shadow of itself and won't be able to produce anything meaningful.
I'd like to be wrong though, for they are pretty much the last bastion of RTS gaming that isn't just copy pasting 20 year old formulas.
My thoughts exactly especially in reference to the most recent TW games (Rome II onwards).
My CoH expectations are simply a heightened
focus on good multiplayer content. Good maps, balance, depth, and creativity.
The
commanders have already proved to give us a fair bit of ways to play CoH2 so maybe an expansion on that formula so as custom commanders (as broken as it might be) or a meld of the commander system of Coh1 but maybe an extra commander so 4 instead of 3.
As far as
community goes, I hope we focus more on being more inclusive (as hard as that can be) with new players and try and calm down on the salt we put into game that really digs the knife in. Report function in multiplayer for cheese such as a teammate killing your base b/c you wont give up is simply something childish and shouldn't be allowed.
In
multiplayer I would like to see more of a larger aspect, maybe some sort of meta game that gives out weekly or monthly rewards based on who is winning a sort of meta campaign if you will. Clan support would be nice to have with leader boards as well as clan stats. Ways to organize tournaments in game might also be a nice addition with custom rule sets and maybe even map lists.
Single-player I know there are those out there who enjoy CoH for its single-player and I'd hope a larger version of Ardenns assault comes with coh 3. Addition of air units, navel, or campaign map weather elements would make the single-player unique. Would also be nice to see the game kind of go in a Attack-Defend game play where each turn the AI will either sit tight and build up strength or you are attacking.
Cosmetics While I know we don't like DLC as a community (no one does) it wouldn't be bad to expand the system already in place from CoH 2 with the Relic Bucks. Most stuff should be purchasable with in game currency that can be fairly earned overtime. Possible additions to cosmetics might be simple boxes and bushes/camo you could add to tanks, emblems, or even being able to paint your tanks (not pink ofc) would all add some nice personal look to your units.
Finally
Future way of patching Finally I'd like to address the way Relic as a company address bug fixes and balance patches. While I will credit Relic for keeping into the long tail-end of their product by releasing more patches, I will say it would be nice to have a bug fix patch once a week and then a balance thrown in somewhere in between (much like what Starcraft does). Not only would it help clean up the product but might keep balance issues lower as a result of cleaner house.
TLDR: Just make CoH2 But bigger, better, and stronger than ever b4.