Should get for free? By who's definition. We only say that NOW because we know it's DLC. But I don't hear anyone complaining about Medieval:T otal War, where there was 20 factions and like 5 were from an expansion introduced later.
Same kinda thing here. You get, essentially, 5 factions(known) for free, by preordering (BONUS for those who buy early. Games, for a long time have done this stuff. Getting content that others either pay for later, or don't get at all for supporting the company early), or only 2 factions(known) for doing nothing but buying the game.
This gives you 10(13 for preorder) factions at start. Original Rome was 20 Factions of which 4 are Roman "houses", meaning theres a difference of 4 factions between Rome 1 and Rome 2.
They have confirmed a definite possibilty of the Nomadic Tribes being the first DLC bringing that total up to 16 total factions, for game plus minor DLC.
So, sue me, but sounds like you guys are whining about shit that you can't get cause it's only MARGINALLY different then rome 1.
Barbaric Factions: Germania, Britannia, Dacia, Gaul, Spain, Scythia
Roman Factions: The House of Julii, The House of Brutii, The House of Scipii, The Roman Senate
Egyptian Factions: Egypt
Eastern Factions: Parthia, Armenia, Pontus
Carthaginian Factions: Carthage, Numidia
Greek Factions: The Greek Cities, Macedon, Seleucid Empire, Thrace