I find it kind of a bummer, but if I imagine myself as a DM who hasn't spent way too many hours studying the minutia of 5e rules I would probably find it a lot easier to adjudicate as now written. I lament the loss of warcaster compatibility, but that compatibility basically just guaranteed arguments about how the movement of the enemy that triggered the attack interacted with the rider damage for moving. And ultimately I think it is better design to discourage the sort of gimmicky multi-feat power-builds that comboing x, y, and z onto SCAG cantrips tended to encourage.
I do like adding a nominal cost to the weapon so that there is not questions over using an arcane focus in its place, and I do think the wording is clearer overall.