Emperor/Leviathan DLC in 2022: recommended or not?

[Tom D.]

Title says it all. I've been out of loop with the game since around Dharma released and all I basically know of the period after is quite bad (Golden Century, Leviathan launch, etc.) so needless to say, I'm quite skeptical of the state of the game as it is at the moment. Regardless, I got basically all DLC up until Dharma (bar Rule Brittannia) and from the few remaining ones only Emperor really appeals to me. However as mentioned, I've not seen many good things after Dharma was released so I wanted to ask to the ones who stuck to the game: should I get Emperor DLC and why (not)?

 

[Guibou]

Wich patch are you playing on ?

If you are still on Dharma patch you might want to keep playing that one.

If you are up to date (1.32 or 1.33) you should get it if you play alot inside Europe. Lot's of mission trees and hre+pope reworks are better than before imo. And since you are already playing with the lag, might as well get the shiny toys that goes with it.

 

[Tom D.]

Wich patch are you playing on ?

If you are still on Dharma patch you might want to keep playing that one.

If you are up to date (1.32 or 1.33) you should get it if you play alot inside Europe. Lot's of mission trees and hre+pope reworks are better than before imo. And since you are already playing with the lag, might as well get the shiny toys that goes with it.

Not playing on any specific patch, just downloaded the game again but I always try to play on the latest patch, in general.

 

[Lykus Cerebros]

If you enjoy playing in Europe or the HRE specifically I would get it. The deeper Hre reform mechanics are worth it in my opinion. Also the mission trees are nice to have. It also adds some stuff for the papal states.

The council of Trent is in my opinion useless, but if you are papal controller at the time I guess it's interesting.

If that's not your area to play in I would suggest just skip it

 

[necro84]

It depends on how you like to play. If you wan't to play as one of the HRE nations, Burgundy, Netherlands or Pope it gives many new features but rest of the world gets only hegemonies and few minor things

 

[Lykus Cerebros]

If you just want to check the game out maybe consider the subscription for a month or so.

Allows you to use all the DLC and costs only 5 or so bucks per month.

 

[Tom D.]

Does it work though? Cause I read about all the bugs that were introduced with each DLC/free patch and I'm kinda worried that i'd be buying for stuff that wouldn't end up working...

Also, looked through Leviathan and it honestly looks interesting too. Any opinions on that one as well?

 

[Lykus Cerebros]

Does it work though? Cause I read about all the bugs that were introduced with each DLC/free patch and I'm kinda worried that i'd be buying for stuff that wouldn't end up working...

I think most bugs were patched now. The council of Trent is bugged in the sense that the papal controller always goes with the minority side. Small but a bit annoying. You are probably fine, unless you are really looking intensly for bugs.

Also, looked through Leviathan and it honestly looks interesting too. Any opinions on that one as well?

The area it's affecting us mostly NA and the pacific. Lots of mechanics for the native there. Most got needed again, but I haven't played there no can't tell you more.
If you enjoy playing there from the start or as a colonizer (different colony types) consider picking it up. I personally enjoy it for its pacific content, but the release was an absolute mess so many people really dislike it.
The new system for gaining favors form allies and exchanging them.for various things is divisive since it makes the game easier but in my opinion it makes sense and give you more options to interact with your allies.

 

[ArtFart]

Emperor is well worth it imo, the changes it makes to Europe are really really worth it.

Leviathan is only really worth it if you play inside SEA a lot, or you REALLY want the new favour system etc.

GC is good for me, it's an unpopular opinion but it makes Castile/Aragon fun as hell to play as. It might be OP, but it's so much fun to play, so I personally would recommend that too if you play in Iberia.

 

[currylambchop]

Emperor rules, leviathan sucks unless you want monuments

 

[Lykus Cerebros]

Emperor rules, leviathan sucks unless you want monuments

Aren't monuments basegame?

 

[Harpagon]

I would recommend you read through the feature list, it works now as intended and not a buggy mess as it was at release when they got all the hate.

Emperor is great for Europe lots of mission tree especially for the HRE. It really gives you flavor for Austria, Bohemia France and German/Italian nations. The additional mechanics are a hit or miss. I liked the HRE and hussite rework the rest felt for me mediocre.

Leviathan for me is one of the weakest DLC as it focuses on SEA and North America and I don't play in those regions. Due to this I can't say anything on totemism rework and the mission trees. From the mechanics only Monuments are really interesting, the curry favor and the colonial nation mechanics are decent the rest you can almost ignore.

I would get Emperor if you like to play in Europe, Leviathan for SEA otherwise I would wait for a sales and get them there.

 

[bokorthedust]

Both are fine in my opinion, their initial releases were messy because of bugs but those presented regardless you had the DLC or not. But almost 2 years have passed since Emperor and almost a year since Leviathan, and all of those bugs are ironed out now. Even the above mentioned Council of Trent bug is supposed to be fixed for 1.33 which is available as a beta and drops pretty soon as an official patch.

As others have said, Emperor focuses on Europe content wise, while Leviathan does SEA and the New World natives, and the monuments being a 'worldwide' content feature. If you don't really play those nations, maybe you can skip Leviathan. You'd only miss out on monuments if you skip it, and those are negligible in the sense that they make the game easier if you use them, but you can play just as fine if you ignore them.

 

[Zaddy]

I think monuments are actually pretty cool, one of the better additions to the game recently imo. I probably wouldn't pick it up if it wasn't on sale though. Overall I would say it's a decent DLC. Just had the unfortunate issue of being attached to the most disastrous patch I've seen for this game, and maybe for any game I've ever played.

 

[Korsjan Rīkis]

Personally, now that we have monuments, I would find the game unplayable without them.

 

[Kanem Bornu]

The game is in a great state right now, honestly. The more recent mission trees (especially the ones in the latest immersion pack, Origins) are a lot more interesting than the older conquer > get claims > conquer missions from Dharma era. Latest beta patch is addressing a lot of gameplay issues and bugs. I think right now is a great time to jump back into EU4.

 

[Tom D.]

Thanks for all of your input! I only buy DLC in sales anyway so I decided to buy them both. Emperor for the Europe content and Leviathan's mostly for some of the features and that colonial nation stuff, as I do love colonising and colonial nations in general.