My Concern with Hearts of Iron IV: Death or Dishonor

Today, I discuss my concern with perpetuating the precedent that has been set by Paradox Interactive and Paradox Development Studio: some content additions to the game, alongside some free features, will be required to be purchased to experience.

It's not the practice of DLC that concerns me, but my concern lies with releasing paid DLC content for a game that is fundamentally flawed and consisting of design and structural flaws. In my opinion, for what it's worth, developing the game and improving, in major strides, problems that lie with fundamental structural issues is something that should be prioritized and sorted out, and then new content and new additions to the game in the form of DLC can be made and sold to players.

Let me know your thoughts on all of this down below, would love to hear your discussion and thoughts.

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► New to the channel? I'm Adrian and I make Let's Plays: I primarily play grand strategy games from Paradox Interactive like Europa Universalis IV. You can find my Let's Plays and Livestreams in 1080p60 here on YouTube!

[AdrianGamingLP]

Hey everybody,

First I do want to say that I do not usually make videos like this so I might appear to ramble on for a while or maybe could have condensed some points, so I apologize for any longevity.

Second, I want to put forth 100% that I do not speak for all fans and all people of Paradox Interactive and Paradox Development Studio in this critique: I have tried to offer evidence and be able to consider both sides when it comes to this issue of DLC and improving upon Hearts of Iron IV's many issues. This is just my side and my opinion and I come forth with all respect and consideration for all points of view, and do not mean to start some sort of rage or flame war.

Third, I am not perfect and probably have not considered every avenue of thought in regards to this discussion, particularly Paradox's train of thought and the thought of some Paradox developers in regards to their vision for improving Hearts of Iron IV and what and how content is to be released. Feel free to discuss and enlighten me with avenues I may not have considered.

Thanks so much for watching and for your time!

[halorecon]

During the live stream they adressed why Finland wasnt in the country pack: It's because they wanna keep it for an eventual Scandinavian pack.

Also, this DLC will not just add focus trees. It will add the cosmetic stuff for these nations, like portraits, techtree art, unit models and voice acting. That on it's own is close to the value of the EU4 Content Packs which they sell for 5-6 Euros. Combine that with some new features, like the licencing and equipment conversion, plus focus trees and events which are tailored around showing off these new features and, in my opinion, 10 euros pretty much covers the expenses.

[alexandersinn]

Adding new focus trees is hard work because you have to consider how each new tree will interact with one another so therefore it will without a doubt take a long time to consider and create. I agree with adding at least 1-2 more countries especially for a country pack but at the same time --- little steps

[SamBlips]

To be honest, I don't really like the idea of focus trees actually. On paper it sounds like it offers you alt history decisions or buffs but ironically I feel that it limits players to the few alt history choices offered.
I rather have something more natural and dynamic where YOU the player Make the decisions through the ingame diplomacy, Trade, military, construction panels. Not by pressing on 'Research' and being told that "The Stalin line was built" instantly.
Also navigating the Focus and Research windows isn't all that convenient.

[LiosProsum]

I am definitely missing a focus tree for Bulgaria and Finland. Manchukuo and Thailand would also be nice. Probably even Turkey and Greece too.

[متين-جز]

I don't think it should be free, however, there should definitely be more content.

[jankristek]

I think that they should include more trees: Bulgaria, both Spains, Greece and Finland. After all they said that Oak is going to be Axis orinted patch. HOI4 will probadly have enough content after 1\2\3 years like EU4.

[Charles-vmle]

You can get the Kaiserich Mod or the Road to 56 Mod and get more out of the game for free. They also update more regularly than the base game.

[johncmousley]

totally agree, it is a joke they expect us to pay for a handful of focus trees; there are mods I can get that add dozens of treees and technology for free. I feel as well the precedent is worrying; they have given this game the minimal possible support, and are still expecting us to support it above-and-beyond how we have support previous games

[potatomasher]

I too would like to see a beefier expansion but I disagree with it being free. These take work to create and demanding that it be free reeks of entitlement to me, and it's not like they're advertising it as a full-blown expansion.

[honestonyx]

Good video. Would love to see more of these in the future.

I think a major issue with the post-launch development path of HOI4 is that the devs are trying to please two different types of players - one group wants to play a world war 2 simulator and on the other end of the spectrum are players who want to play a sandbox. These two camps are pretty different in tastes and preferences. I think through that lends some of what's going on with HOI4s dlc makes a bit more sense.

[TristanBomber]

I agree with you on most points. My biggest problem with Paradox pricing is proportionality - I really don't mind paying for additional content, but what I do mind is paying more for less. For $10, you're getting 4 focus trees and a few minor features. The base game is $40, and includes so much more, obviously. It took Paradox years to develop the base game and likely only a few weeks to create 4 focus trees - many modders have done more in less time, for free. If I'm paying 1/4 the price of the base game, I expect to get 1/4 the content of the base game, when the reality is that 1/4 the price gets you a tiny sliver of content compared to the base game. Let me use CK2 as another example: the base game is $40. That's a completely fair price. All the DLC combined is $260. TWO HUNDRED. AND SIXTY. DOLLARS. *What?* You're certainly getting quite a bit of content out of that DLC, but not almost *7 times* the base game, by any metric!

Ultimately, this has discouraged me from buying Paradox games in the first place. Why even buy the base game if the majority of the content later down the line will be locked behind absurd paywalls? You're obviously not getting the full, intended experience with just the base game. We all know that Paradox games are significantly less fun without DLC (try playing Stellaris without Utopia), although this isn't just a Paradox problem (Civ V, for instance, is a bore without DLC).

This kind of pricing definitely encourages piracy, which impacts Paradox in the only place they care about: the balance sheet. Many people will buy the game, then later pirate it for DLC. And if you know you're going to do that anyway, why even buy the game? Why not pirate it from the beginning? By having such draconian DLC pricing, they're not only hurting sales of their DLC but also of their base games.

(To be clear, I'm not advocating piracy, just stating that this pricing incentivizes such actions.)

[Memellander]

the new focus trees look Pretty similar to the ones that were created by the modding community. And overall I'd say that 4 focus trees and couple small features that should already be in the base game cost too much.

[thatoneguy]

EA... i mean paradox doesn't seem to care at all about hoi4 and its so upsetting when you have 700 hours on the game

[jeromebouramia]

I think what's really going on is paradox is disappointed with lackluster sales due to HOI's lack of depth, shitty AI, and the multitude of issues. Rather than abandon it completely though, they are trying to scrape extra cash while giving minimal funding for the developers. I mean compare CKII AND EUIV with HOI and it's pretty clear where paradox's funding and efforts are going.

[Gottfreð]

The game is fundamentally flawed. It lacks a decision system, which has been a core mechanic in previous games and the whole focus tree system is wholly out of place and makes 0% historical sense.

[beewyka]

The new puppet interactions and such are not stated to be part of the update (note the first and last bullets specify) so it is assumed that these are part of the country pack

[deathmanjackd]

The expansions should be paid. They should also have more countries. Asking them to do this for free isn't fair.

[nickrunyon]

the ai is in more than shambles. I was playing a vanilla MP game with a friend, we were in a faction together, and then both is puppets declared war on me. Then he was at war with his puppets, and when they capitulated, no peace deal popped up.

[Epelpaj]

I think that if you pay 40€ for a game, then you shouldn't be expected to pay 50€ more for DLC (1st expansion pass is worth 50€). I don't think it needs to be completey free, just put more content into to the DLC.