Lions of the North is a good DLC

[SupremTurtle]

I had a great time playing crusader teutons. I don't fell any significant quality of life changes, but I really love the content (One specific event that entertained me was when I sieged down Prague, the revenge for the Hussite war occuered). However, one complain that I do have is that the mission tree does not really account for the fact that AIs expand very quickly, especially after the Ai update.

 

[Gaijin de Moscu]

Haha thanks. Yeah they moved the old forums I guess…

 

[themrspartan]

People really like to confuse patches with the dlc itself. Outside of mission trees everything else is just the patch and has nothing to do with the dlc.

Paradox has been very up front and open about the fact that the sales of DLC are what funds the patches, they would not happen otherwise. The cost of the DLC is proportional to the work hours put into both the patch and DLC, it has to be because it pays for the wages. Would you rather they put all the features into the DLC to make it worth the price instead of giving them to you for free? The patch doesn't manifest out of thin air. Most developers make you pay for new features, and paradox gets a ton of hate when they do put features in a DLC because you're being "forced" to buy it.

In terms of value Leviathan trumps this dlc by enough miles to not be visible anymore. etc

Value is not objective, more features does not make an experience better. I've had more fun playing the new missions than pressing the extend regency button or playing in oceania once.

 

[st360]

People really like to confuse patches with the dlc itself. Outside of mission trees everything else is just the patch and has nothing to do with the dlc. In terms of value Leviathan trumps this dlc by enough miles to not be visible anymore. Favors, extending regencys, colonial nations, monuments, totenism rework are just half of the things Leviathan added. Leviathan even had almost as many unique mission trees as this one not even including region specific mission trees for countrys wich dont get a unique one. So unless you wanna say several features every player will be using in almost every game he plays are worth less money then some mission trees do not call one dlc superior then the other espacially with price accounted.

The patches and the DLC *are* the same thing. Paradox just decides to give part of the DLC for free and calls it a patch. There was more than half a decade of bugs and tech debt in this DLC making the game feel almost like an EU 5 in comparison to Emperor.

I'd rather have DLCs making the game better than introducing more half baked 1 button features they can put on the box blurb (remember the original concentrate development and expel minorities?)

 

[namewhichisnottakenyet]

Also, it took the dev team several weeks after release to buff out the major issues with Leviathan before it was actually playable. Lions of the north doesn't seem to have any significant problems in the original release.

I think that's worth something, too.

 

[Johan]

Thank you so much for the feedback!

I personally am really proud of what my team has done!

 

[Will Lucky]

Having a great time myself, the mission trees are sublime.

The AI improvements are solid also, big improvement.

 

[Mannock]

I can only agree with what others have said before me. It's a great patch and DLC. Having a blast playing as Sweden currently, and can't wait to have a go with some of the other countries who got an upgrade with this DLC. Good job!

 

[I like wars and maps]

Value is not objective, more features does not make an experience better. I've had more fun playing the new missions than pressing the extend regency button or playing in oceania once.

Thats more of a player issue when the player doesnt use the mechanics or plays the content the game itself gives him in the dlc he buys. A person who only plays England and always goes Anglican would also call Rule Britannia a better dlc with more to offer then Emperor.

The patches and the DLC *are* the same thing.

No they arent. If you buy Conquest of Paradise now you arent paying for patch 1.4 you are paying for the dlc. The patch has nothing to do with the dlc anymore and every person who buys the dlc now will not ever think "wow Patch 1.4 was quite bad and despite me being in 1.36 I now think this dlc has less to offer then Res Republica". They will view the dlc and what it offers to them right now as they are playing the game.

 

[durbal]

Mission trees existing are bad enough, let alone them being sold as DLC.

 

[Gaijin de Moscu]

Having a great time myself, the mission trees are sublime.

The AI improvements are solid also, big improvement.

I agree. I’m in my Saluzzo run and the mission tree has surprised me in a very positive way.

These are real, nice missions beyond “conquer this and grab that.”

 

[ArtFart]

Thank you so much for the feedback!

I personally am really proud of what my team has done!

You and they have smashed it this time round! I hope this is a sign of what the next few DLC's and patches are going to be like!

 

[unmerged(771301)]

Just wanted to add to the praise here. After the debacle that was Emperor, I had pretty much quit playing after having played regularly for years.

However, the devs did a great job with this update. The number of bug fixes, QoL changes, and AI improvements are huge, and they did all that on top of delivering new content. It gives me faith in the Tinto team.

For example, I'm enjoying playing around with the many new government reforms, and I was impressed with the number of mechanics and how seamlessly things seem to work. And then the AI seems to be a bit smarter as well (like England actually defending its coast, it seems).

It's as if someone actually implemented good coding and development practices and made things work instead of telling us it can't be done or it's too much work. The dev team deserves every bit of praise that it's getting.

 

[Sarvik]

I agree with OP, this is a very good DLC/patch. My first game (Sweden) is reaching the end game and i have really enjoyed the run. Finally we need to pay more attention to estates and the reform system is nice. So many ways to play now!

However, after reaching 1720+, the lag is nearly impossible. Every other month the game freezes, does not respond to anything for 15 to 25 seconds. And yes, my system is technically advanced enough to play other Paradox titles without any problems. I have 6 404 hours with EU4, so I know what i'm writing and what to expect. Hope dev team will pay attention to this problem.

Other than this late game lag problem, awesome work!

 

[Mortmal]

What happened there? Usually when i start a new game after a DLC release, i am finding gamebreaking bug after one hour of playthrough. Usually there's issues so bad people beg devs and threaten to hang themselves in front of paradox HQ for months until its finally fixed. Remember emperor dlc AI debt that took 6 months or so.
No , nope i am not getting any critical bug, i even see the AI behaving quite well forming big nations, preparing naval invasions before starting the war!
So what went wrong , why was the release so good ? New hires ? Johan chained and locked in another building block?
I am surprised it all went so good , the campaign is fun the new missions trees are good.

 

[Antonius66]

Sounds like a good DLC. Problem for me is that after 3 WC and a 1F, I am finding myself bored with the idea of playing again. The first DLC I have not bought at release or almost immediately after. Strange times.

 

[Josar]

Who would have thought the Teutons would be the sleeper hit of the expansion? I would like to see them do this to an expansion focused on the near East.

 

[Manwe_Sulimo]

Only 20 years in my first run (Sweden!), but so far I am quite impressed.
1) Minor thing, but the first thing I noticed: at game start it plays the old "main theme" again, not that annoying Metal song that was there since I bought most of the music packs. Feels much better
2) AI behaviour seems to be dramatically improved: that was the main issue in all the last versions. Now I see Austria attack Wallachia only once and actually take all its provinces, instead of 5 wars taking money only.
I just got attacked by Muscovy, the attack itself was a bit awkward as my alliance (Austria, Poland and 2 electors) got double the army size (although I myself had only 1/3 of my FL and Muscovy had more than double my FL in troops), but now I see my allies actually working coherently together, while in the last version I probably would have lost that war due to erratic AI behaviour. Generally, AI seems to be active and a lot of things going on.
3) Content seems quite interesting so far, good fun.

I think its hard to distinguish DLC and patch, as mentioned the patch is paid by the DLC.

 

[bestbrian]

Only 20 years in my first run (Sweden!), but so far I am quite impressed.
1) Minor thing, but the first thing I noticed: at game start it plays the old "main theme" again, not that annoying Metal song that was there since I bought most of the music packs. Feels much better

You can disable the music DLCs, so that you don't have to listen to them when they become annoying (looking at you Sabaton and Fredman's Epistles).

 

[Manwe_Sulimo]

Yeah when I think of it I usually unclick them in the list, not sure if it affects the starting song though, it was not that annoying to try ;-)