Take this with a grain of salt because it may be bias: I don’t agree with Darkfireslide on a lot of things, including his opinion on the diplomatic feedback system. I unsubscribed from him once the majority of his EU4 videos devolved to nothing but criticism for the developers. I can understand criticism, and I myself do it too, but it felt that he was way too eager to point out the bad without also bringing up the good.
But I digress
In regards to your actual question:
I think in many ways it’s an improvement. You just need to change your playstyle to adapt to it. A lot of people got upset about it because it made smaller starts more difficult, but they were in no way impossible. You need to think through your decisions more, and the feedback system means that you cannot rely on big nations to do everything for you, and you can also no longer ignore your allies. If you want help faster, you need to help them too. I think it makes for a much better system.
The DLC is worth grabbing for the estates alone. The horde stuff is cool too, but honestly you are buying it for the estates.
