'CA Bashing' is an entire concept of its own on Total War Center and the Org and CA are well aware of the criticism, especially since ETW, hence a substantial PR offensive in recent years, including those misplaced PR women you see on Youtube who doesn't care enough to even feign the slightest interest for the games or historical periods they are supposed to communicate to the public, or that cringe-worthy 'Rally Point' show they released some time ago.
What the series needs is a serious rival, with something like the campaign map from Europa Universalis and the combat from Total War.