Rating the campaign sets from worst to best.

So I was playing Arena and befriended a guy and we talked about campaigns. I have all medals and all but one achievement (Rome was...) and he is in the process of beating campaign sets as they were released. As I was giving my piece of advice and describing them, I figured I would rate them according to... well my own liking.

1. African Kingdoms
   

Yeah, I don't like Yodit mission design. Staying in Feudal is bad, beating Dagnajan is ridiculously easy when he is the first unit in the army and the last mission completely wastes the size of the map. The second mission is decent, even though I am not fond of the Tent mechanic and 4th mission is... about resource deprivation which would be fine a different campaign, but becomes annoying if the rest is bad. Also reminder that Yodit 1 medal bug was a thing.
And I don't like ram pushes and infinite spam. So I don't like Tariq. The second mission was cool because those Wonders made you work for it and it was nice getting the occasional pair of Trebs. I cheesed the Pyrenees with the hero unit and I am not ashamed.
I don't hate Francisco (especially the second mission was cool), but the saving grace of this campaign is Sundjata.
Yeah having BBCs is not really accurate, but I don't care. Gbetos are an incredibly fun unit to use. A mobile unit which is improved by Arson is rivaled only by Tarkans. This is actually the only campaign where my favorite mission is not the second one - it's close though, but Lion's Den is a really good final mission.Contains probably the most frustrating campaign and the one with the worst mission design.

1. Rise of the Rajas

Picking African Kingdoms dead last was easy, but I was torn here. Some of the Battles of Forgotten saved Forgotten Kingdoms, I can't dunk on Age of Kings, Conquerors is saved by Attila, Lords of the West has as many lowlights but i has more highlights.
However, my hatred for Bayinnaung final mission was the deciding factor. I felt satisfaction when I beat 4 out of 5 last missions where I missed gold medals. Kotyan 2,3 and Bari 4,5. (Bari 4 was largely an issue because of the wall bugs at the time I started to play it). But Bayinnaung was just relief that it's over. I never want to play that thing ever again. Other than that I only remember the first mission from it, because I used about 1/8th of the map which felt kinda sad...
Gajah Mada... as much as it is a story of spam, I actually don't mind it that much... especially since I played it with original Malay Fishing ships and I was happy to play some hybrid missions.
Suryavarman - 1,2 and 5 are good missions. Also, this campaign can make players much better at using Monks. Khmer are fun to use because of the Farms and Houses. You can just T90 stuff. 4th is a spam fest though.
Le Loi - A real challenge. Especially 2 and 5. I remember this one most vividly which I consider its testament. You face spam, but if you do you have res and tech to make it tolerable.Still - way too much spam, not enough memorable stuff, Bayinnaung 5 and lack of really good stuff compared to others

1. Conquerors

This one tears my heart, the thing that decided it for me was that I am rating stuff according to how it looks in DE. And DE has one great thing. New civs are applied to the old campaigns where they were missing. Which leads to one bad thing. Missions, where it happens, are not changed sufficiently in terms of difficulty to keep these up to speed.
Best example is El Cid - Berbers have become Berbers, which is great, but you no longer face the biggest threat of the campaign - Turkish Cannon Galleons. While Conqs are who are super anachronistic are staying.Montezuma is also way easier for a completely different reason - the addition of Atlatl and Skirms dealing bonus damage to Conqs. Also one of the most punishing things about old campaigns was the population limit. Which is once again a non-factor. The only challenge in the entire campaign is saving Tabasco.
Attila - hands down the best campaign of the set. Between the new achievement actually wanting to me to beat Scythians for the first time, the second mission being a Ram push that is somehow not boring and the last three missions actually having some late-game spice it's a good campaign.

The backbreaker though are the old Historical battles - Azincourt seriously needs a remake. Separate mission that can be cheesed within minutes by... walking your hero to a Transport ship shouldn't be a thing. Not to mention that mission has already been adjusted in the past to make it less cheesable. (Monk converting Vills). Hastings and Tours are painfully easy, but at least they give you missions where Franks have a reason to utilize TAs which are absolutely useless in Joan of Arc. I actually Vindlandsaga, no issue here. Lepanto is easy, but no issue if they fixed the achievement and you can get it if you destroy Turks. I have no issue with easy missions if there is something rewarding if you learn to play them better (I am elo 950-1000 RM, nothing impressive). Because for example, Manzikert is utter trash. That mission contains a Ram push against two high ground Castles and you have no control of your eco, so no control of the pace of the game, where enemy aggression is nigh non-existent. Noryang Point at least gives you the power fantasy of Turtle Ships and Kyoto... Kyoto is a good mission. Green makes you work for the win.Many missions outside of Attila are pretty much outdated and that made me pick it 6th.

1. Lord of the WestThis was close. Because Lord of the West contains one of the worst missions in the entire game, but also some of the best.Longshanks on the other hand is really well-rounded campaign. The second mission to me stands out because you operate on limited eco, you have actually competent allies and there is a decent number of things to do in the mission. You can do stuff with Longbows and that's always nice.
   Grand Dukes - Two missions are really weak- 1 and 4. No wheels is fairly easy, but an unfun achievement and fourth mission is a rare case where you and your allies control about 75% of the map. On the other hand 2,3 and 5 give you lot of stuff to do and 5 is actually one of the toughest ones in the game. Cleansing of Paris is probably the best dungeon crawler so bonus points for that. Sixth mission has no La Hire and feels kinda anticlimactic, so that's a pity.
   Hautevilles - I like the first mission. It's decent. After I figured the start of the second one I really like it as well. I like fourth because there are not enough holdout missions imho. I absolutely adore the fifth mission. But the third mission is utter garbage. You are forced to make Byzantines give a wild goose chase, while you slowly grind resources. Longshanks consistency secured fifth place. Fortunately, there is little emphasis on Burgundians and Sicilians being gimmicky.

2. Forgotten Empires

Alaric - you get to enjoy the Post-Imp Goth push and there is a good final mission. Nice consistent campaign.
Sforza - Kinda forgettable... I only remember that I used a mix of Arbs and Genoese + Cavaliers and that I used Siege tower once. I guess the verdict is meh.
Dracula - kind of a mess with all the civ switches, but still a good, consistent campaign with no big lows. The third mission is probably most memorable, because of its tough start.
Bari - Good campaign with a really rough two-part finale.
Prithviraj - 4th mission is one of the toughest. Other than that a campaign that can teach you to use monks more. The fifth mission is... weird, but I don't mind it at all.

Battles of the Forgotten - that which has helped secure the 4th place.Bukhara - tough mission against late-game Mongols, containing betrayal and a chance to finally build Elephants. To this day the only mission where you can play as Persians. Only Mayans, Koreans, and Chinese have suffered this treatment to this day as well. Dos Pilas - Speaking of Mayans - tough start, two ways to experience the mission. Good stuff.York - a single mission worth half of the campaign given its size. If you are into that sort of stuff like me, you love it.Honfoglálas - In my opinion, one of the best scenarios created. The switch between nomadic and sedentary is brilliant, the map feels full, but not cluttered plus you can fight Bulgarians, but don't have to. Lake Poyang - easily the worst Forgotten Battle. Doesn't display any of Chinese strengths and it relies on two gimmicks - clown car spawn of the grey and unkillable towers. Plus it's an escort mission. Bribing pirates and Dragon ships won't save it. Kurikara - Full Japanese mirror action with a lot of resources and a lot of ground to gain. Yamasa towers can trully shine. Good stuff.Cyprus - tough mission which used to be the only Britons campaign content, because I ignore Azincourt. You face both ground and naval threats and you can build a ball of 60 Longbows. So that's dope.Bapheus - The polar opposite of Manziker. This brilliant scenario highlights Turkish strengths. Each playthrough can be made different thanks to alliances or the lack of one.

1. DE

Art of War - it was really needed. I get that people hate the naval level, but it's really helpful for folks to get into MP.
Pachacuti - remake of El Dorado. Incan on Incan action whose only issue is the lack of Kamayuk usability since ... there is obviously no Cav.
Tamerlane - easy, yet fun campaign where you can enjoy mobile Tatar army and busted Trebs. 5th mission is actually more climactic than the 6th though, but that is a pet peeve. Ivaylo - If I ignore that the second mission passes by too quickly and the third mission has a stupid pace, pretty much a perfect campaign.
Kotyan - interesting campaign, because most of the time you are getting your ass kicked. However, it allows you to do both Feudal Age shenanigans and spam Kipchaks. I remember the most 2nd and 3rd because they gave me hell. Good campaign though. 1st is meh, but nothing terrible. Extremely well-rounded set with next to no mistakes, but little missing on the wow factor.

1. Age of Kings

Yes, nostalgia plays a role. But I don't care. These are brilliant.William Wallace - Yeah, Celts probably need an actual campaign, since I could beat these as a 7-year-old, but it serves its purpose. I miss the original voice acting though.Joan - Probably the first real campaign most of us played. Two dungeon crawlers, three "destroy this" missions, and two are ram pushes, but I am willing to be forgiving because Joan6 is a masterpiece to this day.
Saladin - 3 and 6 are highlights of the mission, but outside of the second mission's forced ram landing against Raynauld's Pirates pretty much flawless. 2 is still memorable because of "Help, Crusaders are attacking our trade routes." Also, in two missions you can starve your opponent to death. In this one you can do it to cyan and in 5 you can do it to yellow.
Genghis Khan - Genghis 3 was the scariest thing ever when I was a kid. Now the whole campaign is not what it used to be, because some level of competency can make wonders for a noob when controlling the late-game Mongol Army.
Barbarossa - one of the best opening missions of a campaign to this day and one of the best final missions. I kinda hate the 3rd mission achievement, because cheesing that mission feels wrong. Displays Teuton's strengths and weaknesses well.

1.Dawn of the Dukes

Perfection.