Oh My !!! 

That looks just awesome., I'm not in the beta tough.

When is the expected date of release ?

I'm in the beta but I moving soon and haven't made the time... Hopefully I get to play soon.

I would say the main thing is the game has been balanced a LOT better. Each unit is still strong or weak against other units, but nothing stands out as imbalanced (ie - there are no units that are strong against everything). There was a major patch that rebalanced the energy vs requisition production in-game, so energy is a lot more rare now and therefore striking down enemy generators is a very viable tactic.

Introduction of 2v2, 2v2v2 and FFA 6 player games are new modes. Wrecks can be used for cover, buildings don't blow up as easily as they did in the start. Don't know if this was in at the start, but you can hide in holes in the ground created by explosions as well.

Last stand is a game-mode that was introduced before chaos rising, but long after release. You control a hero and fight off waves of attackers.

Other than that, the big new thing is of course chaos and imperial guard, that each have their own counters and anti-counters, making each game more varied since you don't know which races you'll be facing.

I haven't heard anything about the single player campaign, other than the fact that every faction will be playlable - not just spesss merhines.

Yeah, steamworks may not be perfect but it's a hundred times better than Games for Windows Live. Anyway, Dow2 already required you to be logged in to steam (and GFWL) so the only real difference is they just removed one system that kept failing.

I love the Imperial Guard... Baneblade is awesome! That is all...

Got the beta the other day to try it out, and I have to say I'm pretty sold on it right now.  Most of my complaints from the initial release have been addressed, and with IG there's even a bit a base building in the game again.  Only thing that seems crazy OP so far are those IG Catachan guys.  Seem way OOT for a tier 1 unit.

The Catachan grenade blast ability is getting a damage nerf in the 3.8 patch that`s to be released today.  They are an expensive Tier 1 unit.  400 req 40 power.  They are the second most expensive T1 unit behind Space marine`s ASM squad at 500 req, 50 power.  I don`t know what their upkeep cost is though.

Countering them depends on which race you`re using.  Chaos new Noise marines absolutely shred everything Imperial guard.  IG infantry are also very vulnerable to grenades and AoE abilities. 

I`m enjoying Retribution so far.  I like the IG alot more then I ever liked Chaos when they were added.  DoW2 has been a great series, I been playing MP pretty consistently for almost 2 years.  I would highly reccomend it.

Chimeras reinforce your Guardsmen.  Get one as soon as you reach T2.

Use your Guardsmen as shields for your Chimeras and Sentinels.  Guardsmen are cheap to reinforce, and Retribution added auto-reinforce.  You can easily replace Guardsmen as they die, absorbing bullets for your precious vehicles.

Right-click the reinforce button.  It is just like Overwatch from DoW1, except it doesn't turn off when the squad is fully reinforced.  You can just do it to all your Guardsmen and leave them that way around your Chimera.  DoW2.info says Guardsmen take 19.2 req and 2.4 seconds to reinforce each member, so a squad can get back into it in no time, especially if you have the Sergeant and Commissar upgrades for your squads since each upgrade adds an extra member to reinforcement at no extra cost, so a GM squad with Sergeant reinforces two at a time and with the Commissar they reinforce three at a time.

Ravenors. 400-45

Stormboys. 440-40. 

As of 3.9, Noise Marines. 400-40. 

Also, Catachans hardcounter all three of those units and ASMs, while winning 1v1 melee battles against upgraded Banshees and Sluggas, and out-shooting 1v1 every ranged unit (or outmeleeing it if it doesn't). 

And are detectors (counter Lictor Alpha, Kommando Kob)

And have a brutal anti-building. 

Their only weak point is that if they get caught out of cover by 2 ranged units they will lose a few models, which is rather expensive to replace, and they have slightly heavier reinforcement costs than other T1.5 units because they will usually lose a model or two every engagement.

ASMs rarely lose models, Ravenors can kill ranged units with devourers without losing models which pushes their cost to 460-70, Stormboyz lose models a lot, but they do so much damage they will kill more, Rangers pick off models one at a time and can just retreat if they are jumped without losing anything. Noisemarines are overpriced right now, but they are just as resilient as CSMs.