Hobelars are much more specialized against archers. If you can isolate archers, they do incredibly well. But if you mix in a couple of spearmen at the front line, the Hobelars barely tickle against spearmen, and the spearmen do reasonably quick work of them. So they're great against ranged units, but against anything else they're a lot worse than normal horsemen.

You can't build and sustain walls against Earl's Guard. If you try to repair, you just get killed because of their dagger throw.

Even with the two base armor from Actoy, Hobelars can still two-shot your villagers.

With three pierce armor, Hobelars are way more likely to dive outposts compared to normal horsemen.

Byzantines used to do very well with Cheirosiphon all-ins, especially against House of Lancaster. Currently, the timing has been moved back by a minute or two due to the early cisterns play, giving House of Lancaster more time to prepare for a potential all-in.