We are all just trying to be positive here, this isn't the time to get upset or negative. They have yet to even show anything. Save that for tomorrow or Thursday if it really is a total flop.
Dev Diary tomorrow, what to expect?
- Thread starter denisKhan
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In an unrelated thread, Steelvolt stated that no production or AI work was done in respect to air power, so I can't think that the mechanics were greatly changed. Maybe lotsa UI improvements like the radar screenshot Podcat posted. In regards to AI shuffling Steelvolt mention that "great effort" has been put into the problem, but he did not discuss the results of that effort. However he says that in their Wednesday playthroughs, using 1.3.3, he longs for being able to use the updated version.
The attitude of how my post is perceived is on you, not me. The absence of optimism doesn't imply the presence of pessimism. I was simply making my point known that Paradox has done very little--in my own personal perspective--to improve Hearts of Iron 4 versus what they have done with Stellaris. I know that I'll get downvoted because everyone here has the mindset: YOU ARE EITHER WITH PARADOX OR YOU ARE AGAINST THEM.
Paradox is a phenomenal company run by exceptional people who, in my personal opinion, stumbled here. In the interest of practicality, if they stumble tomorrow, I won't be a customer of their Hearts of Iron franchise any longer. I'm genuinely uncertain why this is being misconstrued as me being "upset" or "negative." It's simply my opinion.
Actually he did indirectly discuss the results of the efforts to reduce shuffling. I took it as claiming success when he said that while playing his Wednesday MP sessions he finds himself missing the new shuffling behavior because they are playing with an older build. If the effect is so pronounced that you can come to miss it in only one or two sessions of weekly MP then I have to take that as a pretty strong thumbs up.
Really concerned as there is no talk about the broken naval schematic, not to mention a problematic AI that e.g. leaves Suez Canal undefended.
Maybe the reason people perceive you as negative is because 90%+ of your 300 posts is just complaining about how bad HoI4 or Stellaris are without any constructive feedback on what part of them that is bad or how they could be improved.
And you also have threatened to uninstall the game pretty much every patch and developer diary since release... Maybe it's time for you to actually do it this time and take your nonconstructive complaining elsewhere?
Podcat and SteelVolt have both said this issue is being worked on hard, but neither have said they have found a satisfactory set of solutions. I would not expect too much on this unless they are comfortable they have hammered all of the moles.
Oh yeah, that decision rankled feathers. I expect to hear a lot about the 4 Axis minors getting focus,diplomatic, and event improvements; balance fixes for the Axis in resource production changes, and anything perceived as fixing issues will not be paid content.
And you are correct, the spearhead feature is fairly underwhelming in use to me.
Voting with your wallet would mean not our buying the new dlc and not playing. PDS watches sales and daily play numbers. Those both dropping dramatically would be a strong sign of discontent.
HOI4 started hot averaging about 12k players per day when it came out, plummeting to just under 5k in Dec. It rose back up in January with the DLC and averaged over 7k in the 3 months since. If it drops back under 5k again the peasants are revolting. Note the these numbers are no where near the daily figures for Stellaris or even EUVI (Steamcharts). Stellaris is in the 30k range while EUVI is around 13k daily. Suffice it to say they know they need a winner here.
I'm indeed excited to see what they've had brewing. But I'm also wary of the potential disappointment my excitement might bring.
I'm going to be optimistic: I think they stopped doing weekly deve. diaries as the diaries were getting rather banal, and mostly ended up briefly talking about bug fixes or highlighting a modding feature. Not a bad thing, as many forum goers probably like that, but after a while, bug fixes might get stale, and some people probably get edgy to see something "flashy" or more interesting like a DLC announcement. Since they haven't said a whole lot since the last one, I think the next one will be substantial.
Just trying to keep an open mind. I don't feel as though they need to hit a 'home run' right off the bat. Just glad the diaries are set to start again and looking forward to a glimpse behind the scenes of what they're working on. Very interested to find out. 
I'm just hoping for a very big, and nicely detailed Dev Diary after having a month of nothing. I just hope that it was worth the wait. We're almost a year in and i just need something to grab me. Not only that but Stellaris Dev Diaries have been a lot better and more grandiose from the start, pretty much putting every HOI4 one to shame. Actually now that I think about it, most of their other games have better ones also.
I didn't think it was that bad compared to their other games... I mean how old is EU4 now? And Stellaris is only a couple of months older then HOI4.
I didn't think it was that bad compared to their other games... I mean how old is EU4 now? And Stellaris is only a couple of months older then HOI4.
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I'm tipping something interesting and substantial, although if I was a dev and feeling mischievous, then I'd consider posting a 'fake' dev diary about each of the team's favourite colours or foods, and then a real one a couple of hours later .
Interesting stuff (although going to Steamcharts, I'm not sure where you're getting your figures, unless you're taking the latest data for Stellaris and EU4 reflecting the recently-released expansions). I likes me some stats, so had a look a bit closer (EU4 here and HoI4 here). Looking at the monthly average players:
- HoI4 launched stronger, 12,326 vs 4,486. Interestingly, HoI4 has never had fewer monthly average players than at EU4 at launch.
- EU4 maintained its launch strength better though - from launch to post-launch trough two months later, it fell by 29.8 per cent to 3,148. HoI4 fell by 59.6 per cent to 4,981 five months later. Four months after it's trough, EU4 had recovered by 32.0 per cent to 4,156, above it's launch level. Four months (March 2014) after HoI4's trough, the player numbers had hit 7174, a 44 per cent rise, but still well below the launch level.
- At no point since its release has EU4 had as many players (average monthly figure) as HoI4 did at launch (!) However, it has been slowly building its audience since it's post launch trough, and it's been above HoI4's current numbers (7174 in March) more times often than not since December 2015 (there are a few one-offs before then, but they're almost definitely spikes from sales or expansions, rather than ongoing trends) - over two years after its launch.
I'd say this suggests a few things about what's going on:
- HoI4 had much more pent-up demand - those launch figures are something else (Only Stellaris bettered it, at a monstrous 20,800* - data here). However, it initially fell off pretty steeply, and that suggests that either there are a lot of people that were curious but GSGs weren't for them, and/or (I'd bet a bit of both here) that there was a fair disappointment at the initial state of the game.
- However, presumably because of the franchise's demand or strong interest in the time period, it has continued posting some pretty strong player numbers for a Paradox GSG. By way of comparison, Crusader Kings 2 hasn't had HoI4's current (March 2017) number of monthly active players ever, and by some margin (data here). Stellaris in March this year was just 5,042** (although it's currently smashing it on the strength of Utopia - expect April's figure to be much higher - the peak in the last 24 hours was about 31,000). Other than spikes relating to sales or expansions, EU4's player numbers after they'd built up for three years were around HoI4's now.
Going forward, that suggests the dev team have a strong incentive to keep supporting the game, as it's already got a strong audience (in PDS terms), and the potential to bring back in earlier players who were disheartened with the earlier state of the game, as well as add new players, is likely to be pretty strong. In terms of future sales potential, there's a fair chance Stellaris is the only game with a chance to finish up on top of HoI4 long-term, unless the devs decide to infuse HoI4 with a strong theme of Barbie Horse Adventures (ie, if the devs keep working on improving the game, which they've given every indication is going to happen, things should keep getting better and better ).
* Monstrous for a GSG - no-one go bringing out Battlefield or Call of Duty numbers.
** Stellaris fall post-launch was much steeper than HoI4s - it's trough was at 4,271, four months after launch.
.Interesting stuff (although going to Steamcharts, I'm not sure where you're getting your figures, unless you're taking the latest data for Stellaris and EU4 reflecting the recently-released expansions)
. I likes me some stats, so had a look a bit closer (EU4 here and HoI4 here). Looking at the monthly average players:- HoI4 launched stronger, 12,326 vs 4,486. Interestingly, HoI4 has never had fewer monthly average players than at EU4 at launch.
- EU4 maintained its launch strength better though - from launch to post-launch trough two months later, it fell by 29.8 per cent to 3,148. HoI4 fell by 59.6 per cent to 4,981 five months later. Four months after it's trough, EU4 had recovered by 32.0 per cent to 4,156, above it's launch level. Four months (March 2014) after HoI4's trough, the player numbers had hit 7174, a 44 per cent rise, but still well below the launch level.
- At no point since its release has EU4 had as many players (average monthly figure) as HoI4 did at launch (!) However, it has been slowly building its audience since it's post launch trough, and it's been above HoI4's current numbers (7174 in March) more times often than not since December 2015 (there are a few one-offs before then, but they're almost definitely spikes from sales or expansions, rather than ongoing trends) - over two years after its launch.
I'd say this suggests a few things about what's going on:
- HoI4 had much more pent-up demand - those launch figures are something else (Only Stellaris bettered it, at a monstrous 20,800* - data here). However, it initially fell off pretty steeply, and that suggests that either there are a lot of people that were curious but GSGs weren't for them, and/or (I'd bet a bit of both here) that there was a fair disappointment at the initial state of the game.
- However, presumably because of the franchise's demand or strong interest in the time period, it has continued posting some pretty strong player numbers for a Paradox GSG. By way of comparison, Crusader Kings 2 hasn't had HoI4's current (March 2017) number of monthly active players ever, and by some margin (data here). Stellaris in March this year was just 5,042** (although it's currently smashing it on the strength of Utopia - expect April's figure to be much higher - the peak in the last 24 hours was about 31,000). Other than spikes relating to sales or expansions, EU4's player numbers after they'd built up for three years were around HoI4's now.
Going forward, that suggests the dev team have a strong incentive to keep supporting the game, as it's already got a strong audience (in PDS terms), and the potential to bring back in earlier players who were disheartened with the earlier state of the game, as well as add new players, is likely to be pretty strong. In terms of future sales potential, there's a fair chance Stellaris is the only game with a chance to finish up on top of HoI4 long-term, unless the devs decide to infuse HoI4 with a strong theme of Barbie Horse Adventures
(ie, if the devs keep working on improving the game, which they've given every indication is going to happen, things should keep getting better and better ).* Monstrous for a GSG - no-one go bringing out Battlefield or Call of Duty numbers
.** Stellaris fall post-launch was much steeper than HoI4s - it's trough was at 4,271, four months after launch.
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After having only recently got back into the game, and finding TfV to be good, although not much of a game changer, I'm really hoping for something a bit more meaty from the DD's and the next DLC and patch. Something akin to what Utopia has been for Stellaris would be excellent! Anyway, I think we all know roughly what's going to be in 1.4, mostly, it's just the extent to which they've been able to improve the AI that I'll be most interested in seeing.