I'm a bit disappointed too... because they don't have to change the whole faction, just tweaking them a little bit.
I wanted to play the Sturgians, because I really like that faction, so I'm just balanced them myself a little bit (spearman got a bigger shield, and T4 weapons etc.).
I mean, even when Sturgia don't use much armor (so most of them die fast) until T5 they should at least hit hard. Just giving the spearman better weapons helped these guys to win against Vlandia Swordsman.
My friends really liked my rework, so they said I should publish it as a mod. I did that...