Yes ... I miss that too. The best time in the game is the initial stages. As soon as you become a vassal in a faction, there is less and less time for everything else, and in the end you are already at war with everyone without the possibility of making peace. But after a long war I really want to take a break to go about my business.I think a lot, including this, could be achieved if recruit respawn times were significantly increased.
I would enjoy it if there was some recuperation time after big wars, in which you recruit and train new troops and do smaller quests and personal stuff.
Currently, you almost never spend any time below your troop limit, and if you ever fall below it, you can usually refill your whole army in 1-3 villages. Same for the enemy lords. And the best way to retrain these new troops is of course a new battle, which is why after a certain point in the game it's just
battle -> sell loot -> battle -> sell loot -> battle etc
which gets tiring. I enjoy the variety of the early game more. And fewer recruits might naturally result in a time in which you do again do smaller quests while rebuilding your army after a war even in the mid and late game. It would also make wars and large battles less frequent, but more meaningful.
I still remember how cool it was to fight in my first large battle, and in my first siege. But immediately after those, there was the next, and the next, and the next.... War is constant, towns and castles change owners every few months without much apparent rhyme or reason...Yes, you get more spectacle, but in the long run I think it hurts enjoyment of the later game phases.
I therefore remain a loner for a very long time and carry out the problems of villages and cities until all the recruiting cells are opened. Sometimes I join as a mercenary to pump up my army a little if necessary. I would love to do this as a vassal, but I know there won't be time for that. What kind of quests are there when you have a war with the whole map.
Reducing the amount of time for the revival of recruits would be a good solution, of course, it is unlikely that the developers will do it officially, but there is hope for mods. But honestly, sometimes it's fun to fight off an army of 2k soldiers, and see how in 10 minutes two more armies go 1k each, and then another and another. The problem is that the lords escape from the dungeons, they need to be kept there either indefinitely until the end of the war, or at least 1 month, then a balance must be found.