I'd generally agree on that point if it was not for the fact this game is Europa Universalis.
God do I hate that argument, if its all about Europe why the hell do you include the rest of the world? Why not just have Europe, and the ROTW interactions contained entirely within pop-ups? It's not like anything would be lost considering how one-dimensional and characterless the ROTW is anyway. Keeping the ROTW is basically just letting Europe have a free punching bag the entire game, cause everyone knows this is the age that YURP#1 and dominated the world with their superior metallurgy and armies.