Oh, EU4 is on sale and everything is half off or more. It'd only be $140 to get the three years of DLC I don't have.
The DLC model kind of makes sense if you're actively playing the game the whole time. I've been keeping up with Stellaris, periodically buying DLC as it's released and/or put on sale, and it's quite reasonable. But if you walk away from the game for a bit, the ticket to get back in the door is ridiculous.
I wonder what would happen if Paradox ran a subscription system alongside the retail.