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Just dont listen to haters PDX, if people dont understand how much effort it takes to produce such great 3d models its not your problem. And be calm, there are a lot of us who understands and buys.

The discussion was civil, I don't see why criticism of pricing policy is equated with hate?
 
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Amongst people for whom the amount of graphics in strategy games matter a lot, it certainly could be an arguments against the game itself. On the other hand, such people presumably noticed this already with the release and didn't buy the game, or bought it and were disappointed because it lacked the gigabytes of graphics they felt necessary for proper strategy. :p

Just playing advocatus diaboli. I don't care about graphics at all. I would have preferred Stellaris on a 2D map without any species portraits in exchange for an actually elaborate faction, sector and ethos system.
 
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1.1 and 1.2 both addressed a lot of issues, added new content, and didn't break the game.

1.2 did actually break xeno integration from showing up as a researchable tech, leaders stopped having any chance of getting new traits when leveling up, Machine consciousness mass purged its own pops, slaves and robots could vote in elections, non-primary species could be elected without the correct policy or tech, Sector AI got stuck in enslave/emancipate loops, and several other things.

It was certainly still playable but the overall quality was reduced.
 
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Well, if one minor cosmetic DLC constitutes one sixth of the total number of art assets in this game, that's not necessarily an argument for this specific DLC. It could also be easily construed as an argument against the game.
If you think about it, the vast majority of Stellaris's art assets, by both item count and implementation complexity, are inevitably going to be ship parts and character portraits.
Australia has a special tax that applies to video games. There are however no reason for the price to be differently priced for European and US customers, but that's how Steam does it.
A Euro is currently worth about USD 1.12 on the forex markets, so EUR = USD is a 12% markup on nominal price for European customers relative to American ones.

However! American consumer prices are subject to varying rates of sales tax seldom if ever exceeding 10%, and it is the norm to not include sales tax in quoted consumer prices in the USA. In the EU consumer prices are subject to VAT at rates typically in the range 15%-20%, and are quoted with VAT included.

So... actually, it's completely legitimate for goods with a US price of X USD to have an EU price of X EUR.
 
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The discussion was civil, I don't see why criticism of pricing policy is equated with hate?

Some of these posts are down right rude., entitled, and otherwise objectionable. A few are civil. Forum goers tend not to have any chill.
 
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Im here because I like it, and sometimes because I get triggered like now. My point is that the community is large, and they bought stellaris in loads, you could assume that a huge portion of them now hate the game, but its just a assumption.

Just wanted too point out. For alot of people Stellaris was a huge disappointment. The false advertising and shoddy development around Stellaris to the point it feels like they hyped up a known half baked game using the old community for the hype.

During development they numerous times compared Stellaris too strategy power houses like CK 2, and EU III/IV, etc. and saying they were taking much of their inspiration from those games, and were wanting too match it in terms of strategy. They marketed Stellaris as a "Grand Strategy", and hyped it up using the older Paradox fans who come to Paradox for those grand strategy games (which they've apparently all but thrown to the curb), then release a half baked game, that has far less strategy than even Galactic Civilization III, and far less customization. (When they also said customization was going to be a big thing as well.. It's not..)

Let me make that point clear again.. It has far less strategy than Galactic Civilization III... which means it doesn't even begin to hold a match let alone a candle too the games they were constantly comparing it too (CK 2, EU IV, etc.) in terms of depth and strategy, which again they were constantly hitting on throughout development.

Feels like they used the hopes and dreams of many of the older generation of paradox fans who love the deep strategy of the older games and are waiting for a new game with just as much depth and meaning behind the mechanics. Even if the mechanics aren't there on release, the possibility of them being there would be enough, but Stellaris doesn't even hit that without massively changing back end code and completely changing the game as it is, which won't happen.

Yes, for many I feel it was a huge disappointment. WIth the last patches being more than lack luster, and Asimov all but breaking diplomacy, and federations.....

Now with a Plantoid pack that costs damn near as much as a full fledged DLC with nothing but cosmetics.. I'm sure I'm not the only one who's beginning to really doubt, and worry about the future of Stellaris...
 
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Australia has a special tax that applies to video games. There are however no reason for the price to be differently priced for European and US customers, but that's how Steam does it.

I've seen this issue on playstation too where DLC costs the same in pounds as it does in euros or dollars. It's not just steam who do it.

I do agree there is no reason for an inflated price though beyond potentially having to exchange the currency into whichever denomination they use to pay bills and wages (which still shouldn't be particularly costly).
 
I've seen this issue on playstation too where DLC costs the same in pounds as it does in euros or dollars. It's not just steam who do it.
Continuing from my above remarks: GBP = EUR or GBP = USD is, indeed, a scam.
 
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It's very simple: This is the price point we determined that we need to charge in order for species packs to be worthwhile for us to do (creating ship sets is extremely labor intensive). If you don't think it's worth the money, then don't buy it. If enough people vote with their wallet this way, we'll likely not make any further species packs and put our graphical resources into other areas of the game instead. Of course, none of this affects other content for Stellaris such as expansions, which we'll produce whether Plantoids does well or not.
 
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I would like to submit this quote and reasoning as proof as to why Stellaris will only have 2 DLC and quite possibly will never get a sequel:

Just wanted too point out. For alot of people Stellaris was a huge disappointment. The false advertising and shoddy development around Stellaris to the point it feels like they hyped up a known half baked game using the old community for the hype.

During development they numerous times compared Stellaris too strategy power houses like CK 2, and EU III/IV, etc. and saying they were taking much of their inspiration from those games, and were wanting too match it in terms of strategy. They marketed Stellaris as a "Grand Strategy", and hyped it up using the older Paradox fans who come to Paradox for those grand strategy games (which they've apparently all but thrown to the curb), then release a half baked game, that has far less strategy than even Galactic Civilization III, and far less customization. (When they also said customization was going to be a big thing as well.. It's not..)

Let me make that point clear again.. It has far less strategy than Galactic Civilization III... which means it doesn't even begin to hold a match let alone a candle too the games they were constantly comparing it too (CK 2, EU IV, etc.) in terms of depth and strategy, which again they were constantly hitting on throughout development.

Yes, for many I feel it was a huge disappointment. WIth the last patches being more than lack luster, and Asimov all but breaking diplomacy, and federations.....

Now with a Plantoid pack that costs damn near as much as a full fledged DLC with nothing but cosmetics.. I'm sure I'm not the only one who's beginning to really doubt, and worry about the future of Stellaris...


It's called a self fulfilling prophecy.
 
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Rebuttle

1. You're quite cheap. $7.99 is the price of a meal from Taco Bell or Mcdonalds. It's worth adding a few plants to my game.
This is a flaccid argument. Food is a necessity that I must buy and consume daily. Gaming is discretionary, and cosmetics packs especially so. Moreover, by the same rationale I can also purchase great games for less then $8, so this DLC isn't very good value relative to my other current options.

Another good point raised is that for many this pack about increasing variety among AI opponents, with no gameplay impact. That effects how some of us assess it's value.
2. You don't speak for the community, I'm the community as much as you are, and I don't see where you get buggy from. 1.1 and 1.2 both addressed a lot of issues, added new content, and didn't break the game. 1.3 is doing the same. All are free. And they owe you a peace offering? They're working their asses off on a game you bought making it better for free every month and they still OWE you?
You also don't speak for the community. But I think what I wrote is a fair representation of some of this boards members over the last few weeks.
3. There's no accounting for taste. It's obvious they put quite a bit of effort into the style though. The ships are new models, not reskins. If you don't like it, that's on you.
I agree there is no accounting for taste, yet you still found it appropriate to criticize my personal valuation of the aesthetic in #1. I guess your taste is more important than others. Also, I am not purchasing until discount, as I think was obvious from my other post.
Edit: and they considering how they interact with the community? They interact with me just fine. It's entitled individuals like you who are criticizing everything they do for reasons you seem to make up out of thin air that need to work on their people skills. You need to work on how ou interact with the devs.

Like seriously... These devs are already miles ahead of others who don't even TALK to their community
Paradox's community management is good compared to a AAA studio, which they are not, but mediocre compared to many small studios. My feeling is they are having trouble straddling the line between treating their players as clients from which to extract returns versus a community. Perhaps this is a new development - I lurked a bit on EU4 boards but only followed more closely for this game. Your mileage may vary.
 
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Here in Brazil when we see something too expensive, especially if it's not worth it, we say "isso é uma facada!" or "it is a stab!".
I couldn't think of anything else when I saw this price. I felt I was stabbed by it lol
 
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@Kinkness I was a little dissapointed myself, but Im the only one to blame, they told us about the game concepts before hand, they showed a ton of gameplay. They didnt do anything that was dishonest, and the game is fine, I had gotten too used to a very mature EU4 and it would be insane to compare that to a new stellaris. This is just a cosmetic dlc, and its pricing is in the same range as other cosmetic dlc from paradox. I believe the problem here is expectations, and considering the steam reviews it seems that people didnt have as sky high expectations as you and I.
 
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A Euro is currently worth about USD 1.12 on the forex markets, so EUR = USD is a 12% markup on nominal price for European customers relative to American ones.

However! American consumer prices are subject to varying rates of sales tax seldom if ever exceeding 10%, and it is the norm to not include sales tax in quoted consumer prices in the USA. In the EU consumer prices are subject to VAT at rates typically in the range 15%-20%, and are quoted with VAT included.

So... actually, it's completely legitimate for goods with a US price of X USD to have an EU price of X EUR.

Thanks for the head up. I knew the prices in the US don't include VAT, but I wasn't aware that this also applies to Steam when buying games from the US.
 
Going rate for graphics artists is around $70 an hour (in U.S) assuming it's similar in Sweden, each portrait and model taking multiple hours.... we're looking at thousands of dollars/ Euros to make this pack. Especially because It's not simple reskins but new art (for the most part) which I heard causes graphics artists to raise their rates.

artists are very cheap. $70 an hour something ridiculous.
Technically all ships have lots and lots of separate parts you build together in the ship designer.

Plantoids alone contains art at about 1/6th of the entire game.

IMHO, plantoids could have been priced at 19.99$ and have bern way worth it.

Dont make sudden moves I called ambulance. there is good psychiatrist he will help you.
 
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The portraits all look bad.. The ships are fine, but I was honestly hoping for something way cooler looking and not just a bunch of too weird lol-aliens.

I dont like the Ships at all - they look like ver simplistic Plantpods with attached leafy things to me.
 
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I would like to submit this quote and reasoning as proof as to why Stellaris will only have 2 DLC and quite possibly will never get a sequel:




It's called a self fulfilling prophecy.

Not here too argue. I gave reasons that were voiced by many at release of Stellaris, and how I feel. I am still supporting Stellaris, just not over priced cosmetic DLCs.

If Stellaris dev team start coming close to matching what I'd learned to expect from Paradox, then they have nothing too worry about, and that's honestly not asking much.

As such however.... They did promote this game as a grand strategy, which it is not, it's less of a grand strategy than Gal Civ III, and nobody considers that a "Grand strategy" Strategy sure, but not a grand strategy, they also compared most of it too CK 2, and EU IV, which it is not.. they copied maybe.. what? 5 things those games did, threw out everything that actually made those games great, and tacked on shoddy programming.

Hell they even said Stellaris was going to be one of the easiest moddable paradox games too date at one point... It's one of the hardest due too all the backwards ways they did things. Their code can't even follow a simple algorithm of 2 resources going into 1 building. (Go look at how much trouble the modder of the ALpha mod is having in terms of having to find work arounds for even the easiest of things which should be no problem).

yes people are being harsh, perhaps I'm being too harsh in some area's, but that isn't why things are going south for Stellaris.
 
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IMHO, plantoids could have been priced at 19.99$ and have bern way worth it.
You're telling me these are worth 1/2 the game price? lmao
 
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