Truly sad that the connect issue has been seen so many places. I had thought this was the only one, being obviously [erroneously] related to the patch, but Paradox has failed miserably on a massive level.
Many important ideas were phrased though the links such is how no one cared about the DW features, such as achievements, before they were posed and promised by the developers. Everyone including myself was more than happy with Heir to the Throne. When Paradox released "Complete" and continued on making expansions in seemingly complete ignorance that the the game was supposed to be over, seeing Heir was a delight. But Paradox was an ant and wanted to be a titan, tranced by grandiose schemes of implementing Microsoft achievements through their games, and it broke their finest work.
Paradox has dragged their fans over hill and dale so that they might be despised. I'm not exactly sure why they would do this. More than ever, I wish I'd never paid money for this trash and treatment when I earnestly asked for support on the most basic, simplistic levels. Paradox even has trouble stepping up to the plate to acknowledge that they know there is a problem. Instead, they take a vacation. When they do appear, they are just as likely to say their product is working as designed as they are to ignore troubled posters who really hope for a fix to their problems.
Lessons are learned every day.