No. Wehrmacht it's a sturdy faction in COH, in COH2 it looks nice and shiny, great concept but in battles will disappoint you quickly. They are verry weak.
Yes, they have, as expensive and almost unreachable like in coh1. Good units, alltough but you pass trough hell untill you build one.
I don't think it's such a good idea unless you are bored and want something new. After playing COH2 since beginning I begin to think that COH1 was a better game. Be ready to spend money on DLCs and OP commanders that you will want to buy to win.
You can't compare a 5 years of balance in Coh1 vs 2 years of "balance" in coh2. Of course Coh1 is better in terms of balance but I am happy to have moved to coh2, reasons:
1- Playerbase: Coh1 playerbase decreased due to coh2 launch.
2- Cheating: On the last year before Coh2 released, the coh1 game was full of cheaters, drophack and maphack was often used. One thing I appreciate is that from 1000 games I could have played, only 10-15 I found a drophacker/maphacker.
3-New variables to add in strategy. The new concepts of Vaulting fences,true sight (I love it for ambushes),snow/ice (I don't like it that much but is a variable) makes the game more fun, I hated in coh1 when you only had to do a bike for scouting through hedgerows and walls.
4-Vet system deppends on the unit conservation, I hated the pay 2 vet system from werh coh1.
5-Live game replays, you can watch the high rank players playing online and it's a great feature to learn how to play.
The game still have failures, specially in balance, but they are working into it, axis may feel you weaker if you compare them with coh1 but they are challenging, I really think that this game deserves a try.