I love Paradox games. Heck, I game every day and don't play a single thing that isn't a paradox title. I've got 10,000+ hours in my three favorite grand strategy games (Eu4, Stellaris, and CK2). Would love to get into Imperator Rome and CK3 but my computer isn't powerful enough to run them at a playable speed. I've never posted to complain about the dev process, and, in fact, have only ever posted to defend design changes that I liked that I thought got unfairly piled on (I LIKED the territorial corruption mechanic, and I LOVE the pop changes to Stellaris - finally makes it playable to victory year IMO). I also don't come on here to bellyache about the DLC model - I have every DLC for my top games and I've honestly never felt like it was money poorly spent.
I also really like the changes made in Leviathan, bugs aside. That's why I posted to defend Leviathan last week, despite knowing I would get derided for it by some of the more entitled members of the community. I'm really excited for this update to work and can't wait to dive in, but I can't right now due to all the bugs and I am starting to get genuinely frustrated with Paradox (a first for me). Your company has a LOT of goodwill from me, and, unlike many, given the solid history of putting the time into fixes and improvements constantly, I don't at all feel ripped off or like I want to demand a refund or attack the staff or anything like that.
However, it would really mean a lot to me to get some more consistent communication on the progress of fixing the game. I realize that time spent responding to forum posts is time not spent on fixes, and I also get that the more people pile on with nasty, unproductive bile, the less one feels like engaging (I work in free legal aid to the poor so I'm VERY familiar with getting abusive messages about not working fast enough on things I can't possibly speed up). But it would do a lot to make me and other members of the community feel like this is being taken seriously to just have some more transparency on ongoing problems. The, honestly gamebreaking, lack of vassalization options bug is a big case in point. It's been two days and it destroys a core mechanic. It would mean a lot just to have a post or a news update saying "we know there's a problem and are trying to get you a fix ASAP." I'm not even asking that you give a date certain it will be fixed, whether that's possible depends on factors I don't expect you to control - please just tell me it's a top priority. It would also mean a lot to get feedback on the performance slowdown and whether a change is in the works. Again, I don't need specific promises that you might not be able to honestly give - just to know it's acknowledged and being looked at. As it is, I've gone from being unable to play Stellaris past mid-game (now it runs beautifully, thank the Blorg), to being unable to get through a century of Eu4 with all the hanging on first of the month ticks and other mysterious calculations. Given the scale of problems with this update (a function, I think, of how ambitious it was, which I applaud and don't begrudge), I think a daily or at least weekly update on bug squashing progress from someone on the public engagement team would really be appropriate.
tl:dr - I am a huge fan of what you guys do, and I have faith you will fix the current problems. But please, please, communicate more frequently about the process and what is being looked at for the next hotfix. I really want to know when I can play my favorite game again.
Thanks.
Sean
