When someone doesn't register their account, it's much harder for the devs to know whether it's a hacked copy of some sort, which can have its own issues separate from the original supported game. There are hacked pirated copies floating about that have bugs the base game doesn't (at least, last I knew). They also would have to deal with trying to solve problems from extra bug reports from people who are effectively stealing their money. Also, tracking down a bug can require things like specs - what DLCs you own, what version of the game you're running, etc. A game this large and ungainly (it has been updating for years) is probably wicked hard to find bugs in, and requires being able to reproduce the bug on their own.
It's not really that much effort to link a Steam-bought copy of the base game to the forum account, unless they have suddenly made it more complicated. This gives access to extra forums, not just the bug report forum. You can also see things like 'whether someone else has reported this same bug', which is useful information.
I understand that it seems like irrelevant hoops to you, but as a game designer I can tell you it really isn't.
As regards the bug, I have never seen this particular behavior, and agree that it should be fixed.
It's not really that much effort to link a Steam-bought copy of the base game to the forum account, unless they have suddenly made it more complicated. This gives access to extra forums, not just the bug report forum. You can also see things like 'whether someone else has reported this same bug', which is useful information.
I understand that it seems like irrelevant hoops to you, but as a game designer I can tell you it really isn't.
As regards the bug, I have never seen this particular behavior, and agree that it should be fixed.
