Why did CA remove the Avatar-System?

[YassirX]

I've really liked the feature to customize your General in Shogun 2.
There where achievements (for example beating the game on legendary) which granted you special customization items for your general.
...in fact this was one of the major features which kept my entertained in playing the campaign. I've spent about 200 hours in Shogun 2.

I'm not talking about the stat bonuses... I'm talking about the ability to customize your general to fit your preferences.
I do know that there are some people out there who did not like the avatar and veteran system because both where vulnerable to abusement and they where unfair against new-players.
CA could have just added to ability to be able to toggle the avatar system on/off while searching for a multiplayer game.

New Players could turn it completely off and still earn avatar-experience which they can spent into their avatar and than use those new features while avatar mode is enabled.
Removing Veterancy was a good decision, but removing the avatar was not the right choice in my opinion as it reduced the games replay-ability.
There is even another option by using the Avatar-System as a cosmetic customization tool without any stat/ability bonuses... if the toggle on/off approach does not work.
Alright, so I am asking the community. Why did they remove it? It did not need to be completely removed.

[Omar Nelson B.]

Because they have issues handling a large scale game like this? Because they are going to add it in later for free? Because they are going to add it in later for 10 bucks? Because they focused so much on the AI? Because they focused on making a game that could run on as many systems as possible?

One step forward, two steps back.
I'm still gonna play the out of it purely because there is nothing truly like it. It's easy to be the best when the competitors all suck.

[Dumanthis]

I've really liked the feature to customize your General in Shogun 2.
There where achievements (for example beating the game on legendary) which granted you special customization items for your general.
...in fact this was one of the major features which kept my entertained in playing the campaign. I've spent about 200 hours in Shogun 2.

I'm not talking about the stat bonuses... I'm talking about the ability to customize your general to fit your preferences.
I do know that there are some people out there who did not like the avatar and veteran system because both where vulnerable to abusement and they where unfair against new-players.
CA could have just added to ability to be able to toggle the avatar system on/off while searching for a multiplayer game.

New Players could turn it completely off and still earn avatar-experience which they can spent into their avatar and than use those new features while avatar mode is enabled.
Removing Veterancy was a good decision, but removing the avatar was not the right choice in my opinion as it reduced the games replay-ability.
There is even another option by using the Avatar-System as a cosmetic customization tool without any stat/ability bonuses... if the toggle on/off approach does not work.
Alright, so I am asking the community. Why did they remove it? It did not need to be completely removed.

Too late man, too late

[YassirX]

Too late man, too late

It has been known for quite a while but I wanted to see it with my own eyes.
I really can't see any reason why CA decided to completely remove it... there where many better options to handle the situation.

[monsterfurby]

This may have to do with the fact that generals now look very different between factions, while in Shogun they used the same model. Not that that is a problem for the WH40k games for example, but with the performance issues currently marring the game, I suppose we can see very well why they decided not to implement that (yet?)...

[YassirX]

Its highly unlikely that CA will add it into the multiplayer later on... especially when most players simply don't care, which is quite normal these days.
...but if ~100.000 people sign a petition to add it back into the game, than there maybe is a chance.

[MrBoBo1]

Avatar system was great. It did have it's problems though. The good, long time players become more powerful, the newer players start with a handicap.

[Vilkas09]

They did it to promote Total War Arena. If Rome 2 would have good multiplayer with many online modes, then no one will play arena. They just following simple rule of business.

[SandraDevilGirl]

They used all their money on AI tweaking (big fail) and advertising