Prioritizing gameplay over realism isn't the same as disregarding realism entirely.
I don't understand how you can argue that Paradox doesn't care about realism in a thread discussing a change they made for (what appears to be) the sole purpose of enhancing realism.
You can't claim truce time changes add realism, because that would look terrible.
However, the gameplay argument got shot down worse than clay pigeons near a 12 gauge. The current implementation of truces does not hold up from a gameplay standpoint, as it does not alter the war incentive structure in a material fashion, and it protects large nations and coalition targets alike (while making continued expansion slower). Thus, it tends to be a giant status-quo mechanic...extremely difficult to defend in the gameplay sense expressly because it limits threat and grinds down pacing while protecting only the larger nations (smaller ones can still be full annexed or crippled in a single war).
In contrast, this change holds some realism elements and, if they allow diplovassals between non-Christian faiths, a real variation in gameplay by region as well. This change shouldn't be compared to the truce garbage, unless you're attempting to compare a defensible and possibly useful change to a terrible one that even the devs couldn't defend effectively. I couldn't put the same argumentative pressure on the devs for this change precisely because it has a lot more merit.
That said, more changes than not in the past 3 patches have actively made the game less realistic, including but not limited to:
- Virtually eliminating scaling of war score against large countries
- Hiking AE without altering coalition functionality
- Exile on DoW with military access
- Fleet basing rights and colonial range
- Truce timer
- Making scorched earth more damaging in India than Siberia
- Preventing nations like Kazan and Muscovy from being rivals, ever.
- Juicing merchant republics in a time period where they were in decline (though this decline had much to do with rise to Ottomans + East India route, it's still awkward to juice a historical failure)
- Blocking new wars in HRE during war with the emperor, such that there are situations where an outside nation can't possibly dismantle the HRE simply because the emperor doesn't ally electors.
- Buffing rebels and their size, to the point where a single revolt can outnumber the maximum force limit of a nation for smaller nations.
- Implementing strong nationalism as a concept in 1444.
You could make a case for some of these in the gameplay sense, and for others everyone who has tried to defend them in either the gameplay sense or the realism sense has failed. However, realism as a significant driver for patch changes has not been evident for several patches. If this change improves realism and adds a new gameplay consideration, it's a welcome one.
There are some things about this patch that scare me like hell, but I've seen a lot of good things in 1.8 announcements also.