You know, this whole time I thought Bannerlord would pick up where Viking Conquest left off. I always thought It was a huge Improvement over the Native Warband. Making Bannerlord more closely resemble Warband feels like two steps forward, one step back imo. Although there isn't nearly as much sea in Bannerlord as in Europe, Perhaps adding another island kingdom off the coast of Vlandia (Nord raiders ?) would be a good idea, but we're in the Expansion territory there.
Also, the army mechanics(and numbers) were much better in VC and overall the world felt just more alive and vibrant.