The game running in slideshow mode past year 2400 is a bit of a big deal for most people.
This patch and the handling of it have really damaged my faith in the company.
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Thats always been a problem.
Like I said: nothing new, nothing surprising, nothing to make A Big Deal over.
Besides all the valid points OP made, for me personally it wasn't the dumpster fire of a release, unplayable, laggy game, post 2.2 despite all the promises of better performance, or lack of communication from the devs that tipped the scales - it was the apologetic fanbois and censorship over here that sent me straight to post a negative review on steam.
And I encourage everyone to not engage in pointless discussions over what could or not could be done, but to properly comment on these business practices over there. People are wasting time fixing a product they bought, while PDX rake in the money. Smash that negative review button, do Your part.
And I encourage everyone to not engage in pointless discussions over what could or not could be done, but to properly comment on these business practices over there. People are wasting time fixing a product they bought, while PDX rake in the money. Smash that negative review button, do Your part.
What used to be a problem was the late game slowdown (and still is). The stuttering issue is different (but related) and it was barely noticable before 2.2. Now it has become so bad that it cannot be ignored anymore. Here's a video so you can see for yourself:
I have never had frame drops like this before 2.2 and now it happens all the time. Note that the video is in mid-game. The longer the game goes, the worse it happens until you end up with a slideshow. That's a lot more annoying than the late-game slowdown we have been experiencing in previous patches.
Unfortunately I do have to agree with a lot of the critique here. This is especially sad for me since I consider myself a huge PDX fan. I noticed the company through stellaris and also started to play hoi 4. I also fear that a lot of these issues might be left more or less unfixed since the game is already sold and there is no more money to make from the DLC. My biggest concern is that these changes is due to the new CEO who took over the company last year. This would mean that this rushed release might become part of company policy which would also ruin all other games for me.
The moment I realised how unfinished and raw the game really is right now was, when I read the noted of the glavius AI mod. The quality of the bugs were frightening and the fact that one guy was fixing them so quickly left me asking: why doesnt pdx do that thenselves and worse, why dont they even acknowledge these bugs? I hope that the team takes a step back and fixes the issues.
Stellaris is for probably 90% of the players a single player game: if the AI can't even upgrade buildings than the whole game doesnt work. It stands and falls with the quality of the AI.
The moment I realised how unfinished and raw the game really is right now was, when I read the noted of the glavius AI mod. The quality of the bugs were frightening and the fact that one guy was fixing them so quickly left me asking: why doesnt pdx do that thenselves and worse, why dont they even acknowledge these bugs? I hope that the team takes a step back and fixes the issues.
Stellaris is for probably 90% of the players a single player game: if the AI can't even upgrade buildings than the whole game doesnt work. It stands and falls with the quality of the AI.
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Releasing it in this state while knowing full well how unfinished was not a fuck-up. It was a fuck you. Sad to say but that's the only way to describe knowingly releasing a product that has broken on multiple levels. Yeah it's nice they put up some bare minimum patching before rushing off for their month long vacation, but that simply wasn't enough. And they knew that.
This was not ready for release. Mid-late Feb maybe. But they don't seem to care about that anymore. They have strict DLC release schedules and they can't fall behind. Which unfortunately means for all their talk of "extended post 2.2 support" there will be only enough fixes as time allows until it's time to start rolling out the next DLC. If major parts of the game are still broken... oh well.
More copies sold from release doesn't mean higher revenue, because of discounts and stuff like Humble Bundle and it says nothing about 2018 revenue.
Steam data about 2018 gross revenue from sales shows much more accurate picture:
https://store.steampowered.com/sale/winter2018bestof/
Stellaris - Gold Tier
EU4 - Bronze Tier
CKII- Bronze Tier
HOI4 - Bronze Tier
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Not even in the slightest, especially if you go back to years before CK 2 and EU4 when they started releasing games with some amount of polish. It's not even new to Stellaris for those who were around for the infamous "bug fixing patch" that undoubtedly left the game in a worse state than the previous version.
Not to say that's okay though, because Paradox has gone on record a number of times over the last years saying they don't want to be that way anymore. And as they make their games more accessible they really can't be. Some of the hardcore fans may not mind playing on hot code, but casual fans will be turned away (thankfully for Paradox a lot of 2.2s problems aren't immediately obvious).
Oh, and TODO code being left in a release is unacceptable. It's bad by any standard and screams "kicked out the door."
...My running theory is that Man the Guns was supposed to be released in december, but either it was even less ready than Megacorp, or whoever is HOI4's project lead has enough pull in the company to tell the corporate brass off. I will note that Man the Guns has been in development for over six months now, which is a long time for a DLC that does not even have a release date yet.
So, with Man the Guns delayed, Paradox needed a major DLC in December and Megacorp was all they had.
So, with Man the Guns delayed, Paradox needed a major DLC in December and Megacorp was all they had.
Main issue with me is releasing it when it wasn't ready. Then to add icing on the cake go on vacation after. If vacation was coming right on up, push back the release if it wasn't ready.
i feel like people wouldn't mind as much if the team were working on it instead of being on break. as we'd likely have some more patches out, that would at the least be closer to functional and not spending like a month on the same build with some broken stuff.
should have kept it baking longer, but i guess they really were trying to push it out for the holidays.
should have kept it baking longer, but i guess they really were trying to push it out for the holidays.
Well I'm really ticked off. I enjoyed three games of 2.2, then logged on to the forums and found out that it was unplayable! I wasted hours on enjoying the game...I want my money back!
In all seriousness though, the game is not broken for everyone. That is not to dismiss the concerns of those who think it is broken; if the game lags terribly for you then yes, I agree it is a problem. I have not had that problem. I've played until 2500 on a medium galaxy with no discernable lag. Also, if your preferred playstyle is messed up then the game may seem more broken. I understand that machine empires are a mess, but I've never played one.
I do think that with the last few patches Paradox has fixed some of the big underlying structural problems with the game, first with the restriction to hyperlane-only, which was unpopular but made a much more strategically interesting game, and then with the changes to economics and planets, which are somewhat confusing but open up the game to virtually any imaginable type of empire, species, and planet. Those were very big changes, and have introduced a lot of problems as they tried to solve the biggest ones. From this point I think that the foundation of the game is in pretty good shape, and the future will involve primarily improvements in efficiency, AI, and an increasing variety of playstyles and interesting new elements (like the L-cluster, Caravaneers, etc.)
In all seriousness though, the game is not broken for everyone. That is not to dismiss the concerns of those who think it is broken; if the game lags terribly for you then yes, I agree it is a problem. I have not had that problem. I've played until 2500 on a medium galaxy with no discernable lag. Also, if your preferred playstyle is messed up then the game may seem more broken. I understand that machine empires are a mess, but I've never played one.
I do think that with the last few patches Paradox has fixed some of the big underlying structural problems with the game, first with the restriction to hyperlane-only, which was unpopular but made a much more strategically interesting game, and then with the changes to economics and planets, which are somewhat confusing but open up the game to virtually any imaginable type of empire, species, and planet. Those were very big changes, and have introduced a lot of problems as they tried to solve the biggest ones. From this point I think that the foundation of the game is in pretty good shape, and the future will involve primarily improvements in efficiency, AI, and an increasing variety of playstyles and interesting new elements (like the L-cluster, Caravaneers, etc.)
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I'm both happy and sad about early release of megacorp and accompanying patch. I was really excited over new planetary system and cant't wait for it so get to play it earlier than I expected I'm more than happy about it. But as you said the game us not in a good state right now. AI and lag issue makes the game unplayable for many people and in my case just barely playable while having some fun.
But I believe PDX will fix it one day and if you want to know why I say reaper's due.
CK2 had serious lag problem before, especially when they added india in to the game. But with reaper's due, free patch came out withit to be precise, fixed that issue and now CK2 runs butterly smooth now. I trust PDX will find a way to stabilize stellaris one day.
With that said I also respect your fruatration over current state of the game. And I know, it will be better one day is not enough to win your trust back. Just don't forget stellaris exist and check its update from time to time. I hope PDX do the right thing and fix the game rather sooner than later.
But I believe PDX will fix it one day and if you want to know why I say reaper's due.
CK2 had serious lag problem before, especially when they added india in to the game. But with reaper's due, free patch came out withit to be precise, fixed that issue and now CK2 runs butterly smooth now. I trust PDX will find a way to stabilize stellaris one day.
With that said I also respect your fruatration over current state of the game. And I know, it will be better one day is not enough to win your trust back. Just don't forget stellaris exist and check its update from time to time. I hope PDX do the right thing and fix the game rather sooner than later.
I've certainly enjoyed it myself. I've got some 2,000 years in on 2.2.
I also certainly expected better, from what is currently PDS's flagship game.
The absolute worst thing to happen to Paradox would be for people to just write the game - or Paradox - off, and move on.
People complain because they naturally don't want to do that.
I know, right? Its crazy that I've had multiple enjoyable sessions with the Megacorp DLC when the game is clearly unplayably broken. Outrageous!
I must point out that we have to differentiate between Paradox Interactive (henceforth known as PI) and Paradox Development Studio (henceforth known as PDS). Paradox Interactive is the publisher and it was them who got a new CEO not PDS. PI obviously has a lot of influence over PDS (them being a wholly owned subsidiary and all) but they're still not exactly the same company.
The bug-fixing patch was hilarious in a train-wreck sort of way.
I'd be surprised if the whole company was still on vacation, very surprised. I'd wager quite a few people were back to work on January 2nd. Swedish Labour laws aren't quite as 'employee first' as some people on this forum would have you believe.
PS. If anybody would like a basic introduction to Swedish labour laws and practices (boring and arcane as it is), I'm happy to oblige.
Their flagship product, EU4, is a 4x game. This ain't a black sheep.
Honestly, this thread strikes me as a vast over-reaction. The patch needs work, but it's like you said - the only reason this is looking so bad is because they went and took off for their holiday, allowing opinions on the forum to fester with no dev response. We all know they're going to patch it so that the AI is acceptable and the micro is manageable, because it's what they always do. It's not like they're going to drop support. Is it cynical of them to release just before Christmas? Maybe, but to do otherwise is basically to ask them to not act as a business.
So, yeah. Coming from a place of love like you, OP, I can accept the reasons they did what they did. Maybe not love it, but I accept it.
As someone who's bought Fallout 76, Destiny 2 and No Mans Sky ...I cant get on board this outrage train. PDX dropped the ball big time but they're still miles ahead of the industry average scum behavior
This.
I wouldn't say that it is a good excuse that other companies are worse, but, in my humble opinion, Paradox has a good track record to fix their created mess in the long run.
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