As the Steam review rating for HOI4 is headed toward Overwhelmingly Negative, I got to thinking whether we would get the 5th research slot back for the TOA nations that lost it. I think so! We will get the 5th slot back, even though I agree with Paradox that 4 research slots is plenty. There are only about 1,000 days of critical research each year, so we can actually do just fine with 3 slots.
Paradox's history for HOI4 demonstrates an inverse relationship between a DLC's Steam rating and post-release effort. The higher the Steam rating, the less resources allocated post-release. The lower the Steam rating, the more resources made available. BBA has negative ratings, and received monthly War Effort and a map with roads. AAT initially had positive ratings, and received limited patches.
Since TOA is on its way to the worst Steam rating possible of Overwhelming Negative, it seems reasonable to anticipate that Paradox will allocate the highest level of resources toward resolving bugs and balance issues.
Returning the 5th research slot to the TOA nations that lost it is an easy way to appease players. It makes more sense from a long-term gameplay perspective to implement a change so that every nation is limited to 4 slots, but that would take a lot of resources with limited return on the investment. A few players like me might celebrate taking research away from nearly every nation, but that's not enough to justify the cost.
I suspect some of the nerfs to Argentina and Chile will be reversed. Like the 5th research slot issue, I agree with Paradox that there was a balance issue that needed to be addressed. However, those nations start so weak, that perhaps being a little too strong isn't so bad. AAT nations have a greater imbalance. At the time of this post, there seem to be far more YouTube videos that start with [AAT nation] is so broken/OP!!!, than [TOA] nation is so broken/OP!!!! Instead of reversing the TOA nerfs, Paradox could nerf AAT nations, but that also takes resources and may hurt the AAT Steam rating.
What else do you think Paradox will spend resources on? Making a map with roads, or a roadmap? Fixing pre-TOA formable nations? Releasing for free the pre-order songs, since they cannot be purchased or otherwise acquired? My vote is to release Bella Ciao to everyone!
Paradox's history for HOI4 demonstrates an inverse relationship between a DLC's Steam rating and post-release effort. The higher the Steam rating, the less resources allocated post-release. The lower the Steam rating, the more resources made available. BBA has negative ratings, and received monthly War Effort and a map with roads. AAT initially had positive ratings, and received limited patches.
Since TOA is on its way to the worst Steam rating possible of Overwhelming Negative, it seems reasonable to anticipate that Paradox will allocate the highest level of resources toward resolving bugs and balance issues.
Returning the 5th research slot to the TOA nations that lost it is an easy way to appease players. It makes more sense from a long-term gameplay perspective to implement a change so that every nation is limited to 4 slots, but that would take a lot of resources with limited return on the investment. A few players like me might celebrate taking research away from nearly every nation, but that's not enough to justify the cost.
I suspect some of the nerfs to Argentina and Chile will be reversed. Like the 5th research slot issue, I agree with Paradox that there was a balance issue that needed to be addressed. However, those nations start so weak, that perhaps being a little too strong isn't so bad. AAT nations have a greater imbalance. At the time of this post, there seem to be far more YouTube videos that start with [AAT nation] is so broken/OP!!!, than [TOA] nation is so broken/OP!!!! Instead of reversing the TOA nerfs, Paradox could nerf AAT nations, but that also takes resources and may hurt the AAT Steam rating.
What else do you think Paradox will spend resources on? Making a map with roads, or a roadmap? Fixing pre-TOA formable nations? Releasing for free the pre-order songs, since they cannot be purchased or otherwise acquired? My vote is to release Bella Ciao to everyone!
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