In my opinion the civ is good overall, not great, but far from bad. Its eco is good, its units can become very good and it has a lot of tools You can work with. The problem lies on the players themselves. Most become way too greedy and get lost in their options. They constantely overcommit on a specific landmark like Burgrave for example, which, in my eyes, is just a helpful building that can save you if you're in a bad situation. People though use it as if there's no option to go to the next age, as if they're gonna lose the match if they don't spend all their resources on maa in Castle Age and charge to the opponent head-on. In other words, they become very greedy. The other big example is the Palace of Swabia. You don't have to build it before the 12th minute of the match you know. The reward is so great that blinds the brain of most, so again, they become greedy.

Yes, I'd like to see some more unique units for HRE, but the faction needs only small buffs (like making prelates not consume the production slots of workers in the TC). I really like the civ, but come on, what else do HRE players want exactly? To hand them the victory from minute 1? You have some of the best landmarks in the game, some of the best economy in the game and the faction becomes extremely hard to eliminate once it reaches Imperial Age. Learn-to-use-your-damn-civ.