Paradox are bundling four DLCs into Europa Universalis IV free for all players

Meh, it's probably a part of some cashgrab plan.

With 14 expansion changing gameplay, EU 4 with different set of DLC has 16 000 different gameplay. It is highly probable that only the base game and the game with all DLC are playtested as quality assurance can't be done on the 16 000 different game coming from all the interaction possible from the DLC. So peoples that have just some DLC will have a game with non tested interaction that often leads to problem. The newer DLC are relatively independent, so they did not contribute as much to the problem, but all the legacy DLC remains. Merging some DLC to the base game is a way for Paradox to reduce QA complexity. Art of War for example change a lot of stuff about how war is working, so having this as a DLC lead to having to develop two war system for the same game and implementing every new feature for the two war system.

This move is not so much a gift to players than a way for Paradox to reduce development cost.

This move is not so much a gift to players than a way for Paradox to reduce development cost.

Yes, that's probably the reason. It's baffling that a company that always pushes a huge number of DLCs makes such mistakes. Your example of two separate war systems remind me of the people that demand that Euro Truck Simulator 2 should have a paid DLCs that improve the quality of the base map (including older DLCs) creating two sets of maps that have to be supported at the same time instead of going over all the old content slower as free updates.

Paradox used to be one of my favorite developers, but the huge number of DLCs for each game is just too hard to keep up with, and even just a few "essential" expansions can easily double the original purchase price of a game.

This move is not so much a gift to players than a way for Paradox to reduce development cost.

Yes, that's probably the reason. It's baffling that a company that always pushes a huge number of DLCs makes such mistakes. Your example of two separate war systems remind me of the people that demand that Euro Truck Simulator 2 should have a paid DLCs that improve the quality of the base map (including older DLCs) creating two sets of maps that have to be supported at the same time instead of going over all the old content slower as free updates.

I haven't followed how the EU:s DLC model works, but with Stellaris they release free update with the DLC and will have some of the features in the free update. Doesn't entirely remove problem of potentially conflicting DLC:s, but reduces the conflict possibility. Even better would be just release free updates, but apparently Paradox earns enough with the DLC:s that the maintenance burden is still worth it.

Those are a good selection of DLCs for this treatment, except the digital upgrade which I think was more meh.

They have previously taken features from some DLC and put them in the base game, replacing with other features in the DLC, because they wanted to include features that built upon the mechanics of those DLC. The one I remember was the Estates feature, introduced in the Cossacks DLC, but they wanted to have different unique estates for India or other places. So they moved basic estates to the base game and added to the DLC new interactions with the cossack estate and some government interactions as well.

This move is not so much a gift to players than a way for Paradox to reduce development cost.

Yes, that's probably the reason. It's baffling that a company that always pushes a huge number of DLCs makes such mistakes. Your example of two separate war systems remind me of the people that demand that Euro Truck Simulator 2 should have a paid DLCs that improve the quality of the base map (including older DLCs) creating two sets of maps that have to be supported at the same time instead of going over all the old content slower as free updates.

I haven't followed how the EU:s DLC model works, but with Stellaris they release free update with the DLC and will have some of the features in the free update. Doesn't entirely remove problem of potentially conflicting DLC:s, but reduces the conflict possibility. Even better would be just release free updates, but apparently Paradox earns enough with the DLC:s that the maintenance burden is still worth it.

They do that even more for EU4, as lots of stuff is less self-contained. So a lot of DLC is basically "the game change is in the game now, but the DLC gives you some buttons to increase the value at a cost or spend it for a benefit". Or everything follows the new system, but you only have 1 option of 4. It results in DLCs that are quite bad, as they have very little content but the little they have is far more important to playing the game (not just a different playthrough, but a nice QoL you always want or some important interaction with game systems).

Paradox used to be one of my favorite developers, but the huge number of DLCs for each game is just too hard to keep up with, and even just a few "essential" expansions can easily double the original purchase price of a game.

I never quite get the problem some have with Paradox DLCs.
It would be a problem if the base game was incomplete, but it's clearly not.
You have no obligation to buy any DLC to enjoy the game.
On the contrary, if I love a game, I'm very, very happy with a dev continuously developing new stuff for said game. (Think Vampire Survivors ; I'm sure y'all bought all the DLCs, without any complains!)

So, thanks Paradox for providing such on-going support for your games.

My 0.2€

Meh, it's probably a part of some cashgrab plan.

Nah, EU:IV is just at the end of its lifetime. EU:V is already announced, so PDX just wants to get into the news with this brand and, as mentioned by other users, reduce the maintainance cost of the game. They also know that old players have paid for these DLCs already (which are indeed some of the more "must have" DLCs) and new players would shy away from an investment of fourty-something dollar/euro (in sale!) for the basegame + these DLC for an potentially dying game.

Paradox used to be one of my favorite developers, but the huge number of DLCs for each game is just too hard to keep up with, and even just a few "essential" expansions can easily double the original purchase price of a game.

I never quite get the problem some have with Paradox DLCs.
It would be a problem if the base game was incomplete, but it's clearly not.
You have no obligation to buy any DLC to enjoy the game.
On the contrary, if I love a game, I'm very, very happy with a dev continuously developing new stuff for said game. (Think Vampire Survivors ; I'm sure y'all bought all the DLCs, without any complains!)

So, thanks Paradox for providing such on-going support for your games.

My 0.2€

Whether or not the base games are complete is debatable. The more "essential" expansions that are released, the more bare bones the base game begins to look.

I'm glad they've been doing this recently for a couple of their games but Paradox still has some of the worst DLC policies I've ever seen. I think they would get such a better reputation if they bundle even half of some of the gameplay changing features they put in some of their DLC into the base games. Some of the older games are legitimately unplayable without certain DLC.