Well, perhaps I've just been lucky, but playing Germany I've conquered Poland, Denmark, Norway, The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg and France twice since FtM came out, and I've never puppeted anyone if I didn't want to.
Did you play with 3.03 yet? Believe it's a new 'feature'.
Imho the game is primarily designed to be played as a major, and there seems to be no problems with their neutrality. And minors mostly allign themselves to a faction, and irl didn't go to war by themselves. But ofcourse you're right this should be possible. Hardly "gamebreaking" though.
I like to play as Nationalist China, and because the entire neutrality system is out of whack, that's pretty much an impossibility. Never mind the fact that Guanxi never answers your call to arms, causing you to pretty much lose 30% of the forces you were able to throw at Japan in Vanilla/SF.
While we're on the subject, I'd like to refer you to the following 2 wikipedia pages.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_1900–1944
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_1945–1989
There are plenty of 'minor' countries that fought wars around the time of WW2. Never mind the fact that it's pretty much an alternate history simulator, so if you'd like to declare war on the USA as Albania you should be able to do so. And yes, you'd have to live with American troops in your capital within a fortnight, because you never should be able to win a war like that. Does that mean you simply shouldn't allow it? I think not.
You're absolutly right: the game could be very much better. But since we at the moment have to do with what we have there's no point in wining about "gamebreaking bugs" or an "unplayable game". That's just not true. Why do people not enjoy the great game we have at the moment, be it with a few minor problems, but instead keep posting about trivial problems most people don't even notice? The only answer to this question I can think of must be that the people who actually enjoy the game play it, and the people who want to concentrate on it's drawbacks post on this forum.
Bolded for Emphasis. Because
they notice it, and they'd like the developers to notice it as well. They notice things they were able to do in Vanilla/SF and can't do anymore. They're impeded in their ability to play the game the way they'd like to, the way they have done since release, even. I thoroughly enjoy HoI3, and agree that some of the complaints are minor nitpicks at best, but as it stands there are problems in FTM that hinder the enjoyability of the game for a large number of people.
But then again, I'm not saying there are no problems or bugs. I'm just saying that even with this HOI3 and it's expansions is a very, very good game.
Agreed. I've loved Paradox games ever since I've discovered them, and fully trust in their ability to restore some features to their former glory. And if they say it's WAD, then I fully trust in the ability of the modders to put their own spin on mechanics.
Should that mean noone should complain about anything? No, imo. Even the most caustic complaints are a form of feedback.