I have a feeling it had to do with the time of release, since ANH came out in '81, I have a feeling that Daley had the inside scoop on some details of ROTJ, such as the fact that Jabba would appear. He wanted to include the scene, but didn't want it to conflict with ROTJ's portrayal of Jabba, so he changed the character instead. That's my theory anyway.

@Neverarthegreat, I first found the new Ben to be boring when I first listened, but he really grew on me. The hypnotic suggestion that bugs you confuses me...like when Ben tells the stormtrooper, "Move along"? If that's it, I didn't have a problem with that. The only suggestion Vader did that I can remember was when torturing Leia, and he had the torture droid inject drugs into her that would weaken her understanding of her situation.

Like I said, there are a couple of parts that do feel unnecessary to me as well, but like you said, it was a fun journey.

Something that stood out to me as substantially improved was the interaction between Admiral Motti and Tarkin, where Motti subtly encourages Tarkin to use the Death Star as a bargaining chip and essentially stage a coup against the Emperor, which ultimately leads to Tarkin's unwillingness to evacuate the Death Star in spite of the known danger. Sure, it's fun to see Tarkin as just the arrogant evil man in the film, but to see that there was a more sinister game afoot with the help of Motti...I found it very interesting.