You know, the problem with complaints like this is that it relies on one assumption: the dev so prioritize alt history over historical. But let’s look at the proof for that: Paradox’s marketing and “It’s in the game so they must be prioritizing it!” For the former, marketing in no way shows the actual content of a game (as the recent CP77 fiasco has shown), nor where the devs are putting the most effort. All it shows is what the marketing department thinks people want. Meanwhile we have the dev’s own words about how they prepare for a focus tree, and it involves research, both online and through books, on the historical period. So hardly placing more effort on alt history when they spend weeks learning the actual history.
The other argument I’m seeing is that it takes away from bug fixing, which not really, no. You could argue it does a
net amount of harm in terms of bug fixing, and yeah, I’m not going to argue that point since pretty much all of PDX’s design structure is sprint ahead and fix what you can until you can’t, then work on fixing what’s in the game with overhauls and changes being on the back burner. Personally, I wouldn’t mind if the HOI4 team took a few months like EU4 did to concentrate on polishing the game. I may not notice a lot of bugs (and it seems like they fixed an exploit I liked using), but it’s obviously noticeable enough for other people.
And a quick side note, “It’s just a quick fix” isn’t always a legitimate criticism. When you have a long backlog of bugs, testing to make sure you haven’t broken anything with your fixes, and needing to work on bigger issues, you might not have the time even for those “quick fixes.” Even if you do for one, do you have enough for two? Three? Twenty? People seem to forget that it’s not just
one bug but many. Even if one “quick fix” is done, there’s more around the corner.
Don't give up. There are lots of people like you and me. Some say we are denigrating, elitist, hurt people's feelings. Quite the contrary, we have not been outspoken enough. Tell it like it is. Make your voice heard.
You know, I was going to let this one pass, but there was this nagging uncomfortableness about your viewpoint, and I think I’ve figured out what it is. Aside from your pathetically snobbish behavior (it’s pretty pathetic to try and compare Katy Perry to Beethoven to try and prove you’re superior; the two serve different purposes and saying one is higher quality than the other is like saying a European style army is better than any other regardless of context), it’s got this almost delusional idea that you’re really on the right side, who cares if everyone else disagrees with you. They’re just sheep, but
you, you know the truth and it’s your duty to speak out! And if yourself in the minority? Obviously your sympathizers are just unwilling to speak out! It can’t be that people disagree with you, it’s just that they’re not voicing their agreement for some reason. It’s honestly both annoying and disturbing, and the mindset it encourages is downright toxic due to its refusal to consider any viewpoint but its own as legitimate.