...I've yet to play a game of EU where BYZ didn't keep reappearing for hundreds of years in random places like Corfu. It's nonsense; the new nation is not Byzantium in any way shape or form, and it should have used another revolter tag instead....
That's not nonsense. That's a desirable feature. Or was a feature. These places absolutely did and should have frequent rebellions and attempts to assert their independence. Maaaaybe we'll still see it without the nationalist BYZ rebels, but I'm highly skeptical, unless they plan on putting in GRE cores in those areas or another revolter tag. Sure, they weren't Byzantium in any way, shape, or form, but any successful rebellion is most likely going to try to associate themselves with the spectre of the Empire, yes for hundreds of years, lacking any other glorious nation-state, so I don't really have a problem with that. I do have a problem with the fact that these areas are now going to be excessively docile.
And, this is the one area of the world where the highly questionable, gamey concept of vassal-feeding actually has some validity and precedent. Yet we've just made it far more difficult (or impossible) for nations like VEN, ARA, GEN, to do what they did or what they aspired to do, historically.
To be honest, at a 1444 start, the state probably shouldn't be called "Byzantium" at all -- that empire has long since fallen. Rather, it should simply be Constantinople -- a city-state, much like Ragusa or Ulm. Byzantium should be exclusively a formable tag for a Greek state that has conquered a fairly impressive swath of territory.
Would certainly be a more accurate representation of the historical realities. And if they really don't like the way it's currently represented, I'd prefer an all-at-once reworking, to these irritating little nerfs each patch - lose a core here, lose a core there, because...reasons.
The big change isn't the BYZ nerf, though. Trebizond, or anyone wanting to become BYZ, just got a whole lot harder to play! Because, well, you know... because... a decision that was fine for years is suddenly OP? because someone was having too much fun in an unapproved manner? because we just don't like Greeks?