I honestly don't think half of the community wanted this rubbish with assigning equipment to players. The devs increased micro-managing when I think on the whole the community wanted it lessened.
They may have increased micro managing but only for battles, and this is something i've been looking forward to for a long time. Too often people just take whatever gear they want, despite leaders saying "HEY DONT TAKE THAT PLATE!"
This plus anonymizing battle rosters goes a long way to increase the ability to hire mercs rather than relying on your own soldiers. Maybe not helpful for large clans but small ones that can't make up the entire roster every battle benefit from this the most imo.
Horses are a force multiplier and are pretty shitty to use with things like ladders on the ground and wooden stakes. Alone, horses are pretty easily hard-countered.