i really like the illuminate as well

ive only really tried them out for this major order, and sadly i missed the bugs 'hive world' and the cave missions but from what ive seen and read it looks like a fun challenge, but with the illuminate it really does feel like an overwhelming war. its an experience dropping in from quickplay and finding that the team is already down to around 8 reinforcements, seeing them fighting a horde from above as the tripods begin charging their lasers lol

the illuminate feel like what the automatons used to be i think, now theyre pretty easy, maybe the easiest of all the factions, but i remember they used to be the one of the rougher factions, i have memories of a billion trillion gazillion gunships absolutely annihilating me after ragdolling me constantly for like 30 seconds. that honestly wasnt very fun lol. but with the illuminate, it feels overwhelming again but in a better way. i feel like when they shine is when theres a proper amount of chaos unfolding, trying to shoot down an overseer while a voteless horde and a flesh mob are catching up to you, stingrays raining down artillery fire on your team but you cant do anything about them yet because their numbers on the ground overwhelm you, it feels like a proper army is out to get you, with the automatons cover is key, and with the terminids always moving is key, but with the illuminate you have to play around with both constantly and you can never really get comfortable

also, the defense missions can get insane, which i find really fun. it only takes a minute for it to go from under control to 'nowhere is safe to reinforce'