While I personally enjoyed the new Update 34, there still remains an unbalance in difficulty within the lands of Harondor. With the onset of Update 34, Harondor became a mostly green land with scattered patches of sand and grassless dirt, doing away with the Ranger-dominated “North Harondor” and contested “South Harondor” we knew since Beta 29. However, as a consequence of Harondor becoming an all green land, the effects of the Beta 29-era “North Harondor” carried over as a consequence.
Rangers lurk in every corner, and any player allied with Sauron who dares to set foot in Harondor gets tailed by platoons of Rangers practically every five seconds. On top of that, Ranger invasions are far too common in Harondor, and all they do is add to the harassment evil players get when facing so many Rangers. Sure, there are some isolated Haradrim squads, but they won’t be of any help for two minutes, because they would have already been killed by every Ranger in the area, leaving you alone and facing off thirty Rangers at once.
Meanwhile, any player allied with Gondor doesn’t have to worry about getting chain gunned by the Rangers, rather the only time they should feel threatened is, one: a gang of bandits jump them; and two: either Mordor or any one of the Haradrim clans launch an invasion.
This major unbalance in difficulty poses a major problem. Technically, it also contradicts lore, because Harondor was described as a land where Gondor lost control, while in-game it appears that the Rangers are still managing to maintain control of Harondor in spite of everything that’s going on (Denethor’s madness, attacks conducted by the Southrons, renewed Orc raids on Gondor, etc.)
On the Gondorians
As mentioned above, the Rangers of Ithilien practically dominate Harondor, strangely going as far south as the banks of the Harnen. An ironic thing too, because the Rangers spawn far more commonly here than in Ithilien.
My suggestion is to decrease the spawnrate of Rangers, primarily because Rangers are far too overpowered, rivalling even the Elves. Instead of practically dominating the area, Rangers should spawn semi-uncommonly (courtesy of Grievous).
Gondorian soldiers should also spawn here, albeit rarely, because they would have been sent here by order of Denethor (or the Gondorian commander who is in charge).
On the Southrons
In the past, the Haradrim were gaining control of the southern deserts of Harondor, though they constantly fought the Rangers trying to maintain control of the region. What’s more, travelling through the Harondor Desert allied with either of the two rival factions was a challenge, due to both the frequent patrols of Haradrim in the area, and the moderate number of Rangers present.
My suggestion with the Haradrim is to significantly increase the spawnrate of Harnedhrim, Coast Southrons and their champions here. The Harnedhrim should be more frequent as the Rangers would be, as Harondor is their ancestral seat (courtesy of Grievous).
The Coastlings should still be somewhat rarer than the Harnedhrim, because they are not as dedicated to the fight as the Harnedhrim are. The Southron Champions should also be a little more commonly seen, though not as frequent as the Coastling Warriors. The spawnrate for the Nomads, however, would remain the same. Being traders, the Nomads are not devoted to the fight either, even less so than the Harnedhrim or the Coastlings.