Pings and Minimap are payed content?

[IamFun]

Like I've said before: I am fine paying for the continued development of this game. I don't pay for a DLC just to get certain content, I pay to also make sure that future content is provided. Even if the minimap and the pinging were in the free patch, you still would have indirectly paid for it by purchasing the previous DLC, and by paying for this DLC you increase the chance that a Naval-revamp is coming. Stop paying and those free patches stop coming, too, eventually.

That's true. They need the dlc money. If a game isn't profitable then they give up on it.

 

[Duke_Dave]

That's true. They need the dlc money. If a game isn't profitable then they give up on it.

Its with any game that gets continued development it needs a source of income, given that PDX keeps giving out new content outside of DLC I really like them. I keep buying the DLC as a kind of crowdfunding, keeping the game development running.
There is one more DLC in the season pass after WtT and I hope they make a second one, really like being able to buy a bunch of upcoming DLC a bit cheaper and PDX got a solid financial base for continued development.

 

[Sourlol]

Should it have been in the base game from day one? Yes.

Was my gameplay negatively affected over the last 18 months because I didn’t have it? Nope.

Does it make sense given that it had to be developed, isn’t an essential feature, and only exists due to popular demand and goes against a stated design decision early in development that it would be a paid feature? Sure.

All that said, hoi4 is a luxury good, entertainment. There is no need for someone to look out for the consumer. The consumer, has the power to just not buy it if they feel it is unfairly priced.

And to that effect look at the pricing scheme for WoW or Star Wars Battlefront or the complete lack of development on PuBG since they went “1.0” and realized they’ve made their money on pc and developing it further does net them any more profits.

I’ll take $15-$20 1-2 Times a year anyday

 

[JerkyJerry]

Should it have been in the base game from day one? Yes.

Was my gameplay negatively affected over the last 18 months because I didn’t have it? Nope.

Does it make sense given that it had to be developed, isn’t an essential feature, and only exists due to popular demand and goes against a stated design decision early in development that it would be a paid feature? Sure.

All that said, hoi4 is a luxury good, entertainment. There is no need for someone to look out for the consumer. The consumer, has the power to just not buy it if they feel it is unfairly priced.

And to that effect look at the pricing scheme for WoW or Star Wars Battlefront or the complete lack of development on PuBG since they went “1.0” and realized they’ve made their money on pc and developing it further does net them any more profits.

I’ll take $15-$20 1-2 Times a year anyday

Should it have been in the base game from day one? Nope
Was gameplay negatively affected over the last 18 months because I didn’t have it? Nope.
Does it make sense given that it had to be developed, isn’t an essential feature, and only exists due to popular demand and goes against a stated design decision early in development that it would be a paid feature? Sure.
I'm 2/3rds of the way with you my friend

You are spot on with your assessment of the game. I don't have another game in my inventory that has the replayability that HOI does. I'm not so sure I've owned any game that has had an update as large as WtT appears to be. I've only recently stopped playing due to my own personal opinion that WtT is already better than the HOI4 I'm playing currently, so I'm not going to play it again until WtT is released.

 

[Tha Pink Guy]

I think I need to make what I am annoyed about here very clear.

1. A company I respect is making the consumer pay for a feature expected in Strategy.
2. I actually don't care if there was a map at all I care you have to pay for it.
3. The original reason I was annoyed was because the ping system is payed for content.
4. I was looking forward to this patch until it conflicted with my principles.
5. I pre-ordered Field Marshal edition of the game and i still feel a little burnt by that considering the AI on release amongst other things.
6. I like everyone that has made themselves public via the livestream including Podcat.
7. The "boycott" as someone said is kind of irrelevant considering I apparently already "own" this dlc and from research apparently the next one. Only real change is i wont be playing it anymore and my friends wont be buying it either.

A lot of the comments I have seen are very good arguments for Paradox but that doesn't change my opinion that a minimap should be free no matter what game it is for.

 

[Duke_Dave]

Its not a mini-map its a marker-map a mini-map that doesn't show borders, geographical features beyond sea/land, etc. is not a mini-map. Its a map with tools to signal fellow players.
Tbh I don't see the need for a minimap in HoI4 maybe in EU4 because a lot happens on the state leve therel, but what HoI4 needs, and where this development time should have gone into, is more map modes and I would understand if people were pissed if future map modes were behind a paywall - especially ideology map mode.

 

[safe-keeper]

What always bugged me about the mini-map in HOI3 was that it always only showed the entire world, when most of the time you were focused on only a small region. If the devs added the ability to zoom the mini-map so that I could have it show, for example, only Europe and the east front, it would have been far more useful and actually saved me some scrolling time.

 

[Pellaken]

They made it very clear that what is paid is based on how much work it required.

 

[KalypsoKirin]

I've played quite a lot of Paradox games lately, and I haven't once felt the need for there to be a minimap. It shows me nothing I can't find out just as quickly by zooming out temporarily. It provides no quick access options to me because clicking on a point and teleporting your screen there is much more confusing than scrolling around, zooming out, and zooming in, and saves a negligible amount of time.
I only care about pinging, because it seems like a decent quality of life thing to help co-ordinate in MP.
I can understand wanting it because you've played games with it for years, but eventually you've gotta face the facts.
HOI4 wasn't meant to have a minimap. It would have had one if they had wanted one in the game.
They are adding it by popular demand, and if you want it so badly, you're willing to pay for it.
Plain and simple.

 

[Tha Pink Guy]

Again, don't care if there is or is not a minimap I care that I have to pay for it.

 

[KalypsoKirin]

Again, don't care if there is or is not a minimap I care that I have to pay for it.

Think of it less as you're paying for the minimap, and more as you're paying for the focus trees.
Are spearheads, puppet autonomy, and research sharing really so important you NEES to buy TfV? No, of course not. You'll rarely even notice them.
Same with all the little "extra" features in DoD
Same with the minimap in WtT.

 

[Sourlol]

Again, don't care if there is or is not a minimap I care that I have to pay for it.

Bud, you’d be paying for it regardless, if it was in the base game...the cost would have been included in your initial purchase...this is entertainment...even our “free patches” are paid, you just paid that cost on day one. (You have to own hoi4 to get the patches to it...)

 

[Alliegorical]

It is what it is, can't work for free.

Pithiest post of the day.

Again, don't care if there is or is not a minimap I care that I have to pay for it.

Why do you care whether or not you have to pay for something if you don't care whether or not that thing exists?

 

[Enriador]

I have no particularly strong opinions regarding the minimap itself, but in my opinion the leading minds of HoI4 are going through a very strange path in regards to free/paid content.

The Spearhead batteplan (you know, an essential part of WW2 strategy in a WW2 game I bought for 29.99 bucks), locked behind TfV (further 14.99 bucks), comes to mind. If you compare HoI4's free patches with Stellaris' you are really surprised by the difference in marketing philosophy. The Stellaris team even ripped one of its DLC' main selling points (Ascension Perks from Utopia)... and put it for free! Not to mention the load of QoL stuff they put for free.

Seriously, take a look at Leviathan, Utopia, Synthetic Dawn and Apocalypse and their feature lists. Where is the QoL stuff that makes the user's life a bit easier? You won't find any... It's all in the free patch.

Meanwhile, HoI4 sells major (equipment conversion, combat log) and minor (minimap, garrison orders) QoL features in addition to true content of questionable quality - DLC-bound focus trees lacking flavor and expanse and losing to *user-made mods* by a vast margin.

I enjoy HoI4 (my DLC list hopefully proves it), it's a really good game, but as a gamer without unlimited funds I must balance out whether a DLC is worth it and whenever a company (even a very customer friendly like Paradox is) is trying to sell me cheap features that should have been in the base game to begin with because they are absolutely part of the core promise.

Now, is a minimap in a sprawling strategy game "a part of the core promise"? I confess I don't know.

 

[jpapple]

The apathy from both of you is worry, an industry standard which is part of both EU4 and CK2 since the launch of both of the games, Hearts of Iron 3 had a mini map at launch as well. Adding a map and putting it behind a paywall isn't okay especially since it should have been there at launch.

Why are you suddenly starting about the mini-map, while your original post was about the pinging ability? And what about an 'industry standard'? Nobody else but the company making the game may choose what's in or not?

Industry standards aren't relevant anymore since EA and Activision are making their own. The last couple of years we've not been listened to by any of the big companies that just want to milk our cash out of us. Atleast PDX keeps supporting their games for years unlike some of the other companies I've just mentioned

 

[Delinard.]

Pings don't even work in MP anyway.Even in 1.5.1

 

[jpapple]

Pings don't even work in MP Granyway.Even in 1.5.1

They do, I tried it while playing with a couple of friends and it worked perfectly..