Yeah GC2 was pretty cool. It took me awhile to figure out how to build a base, which of course there was no base to build. The graphics were awesome. I love the idea of calling down a dropship with the units you ordered with your points. Music was top-notch, effects, and strategy was beautiful. Hard as hell in some areas. The AI is pretty good, but I never got into that much most likely due to the fact I couldn't build a base. I have a base-fetish in RTS games... 8]
Forgot to mention that the one biggest thing I really liked about that game was the dual purpose of the units, or at least dual weaponry of the units.
The things I did not like about WC3 was that units were static. Most of them served one role, and they had only one weapon, aside from the sorcerors/ress and the heroes, but even the heroes were boring to play. Sure they levelled up to 10 and had special powers, but they are weak and doesn't do much in terms of being a 'real' leader.
On the other hand, DoW units had at least two weapons each. The Land Raider had four that could fire at multiple targets simultaneously, AND transport Terminator or other infantry units at the same time. Though DoW was not as tactical as GC2, it still used the terrain to help in its attack/def ability. Height and cover played a role in the combat and defense capabilities of all the units. Leaders are super powerful and they had morale boosters in place. They can pretty much take on a regular army or two by themselves, but still get killed eventually.
Too bad DoW only came with one campaign, and only for the Space Marines. It was fun when I was playing it, but when the campaign ended, the skirmishes took too long to load.
The reason I think why many people like WC3 is because it loads fast and people can get right into the action. I deem WC3 a point-and-click action game disguised as a strategy game. If it didn't have so much rush tactics, I would have almost branded it a point-and-click adventure game as well... 8]