It's genuinely helpful to have that kind of longform insight into the process, and I do appreciate your engagement here. That said, at the risk of sounding like a broken record (and of you getting tired of seeing my username)...
This is where you start to lose me a bit. I think the OP is, whether intentionally or not, using the number of reported bugs both literally and symbolically, as a reflection of broader frustration with the bugfixing process. It’s much easier to point to a backlog of untouched bug reports than to repeatedly say, "I’ve run into old bugs, why hasn’t Paradox fixed them?" even though we see that sentiment often.
If, as you say, most of those reports are invalid due to duplication, missing detail, or user error, that should be reflected in the overall player experience. But the growing number of upvoted posts and comments in dev diaries highlighting persistent problems tells a different story. The perception that bugfixing is slow or inconsistent is not coming out of nowhere. It shows up in the above bug metrics, the forums, Reddit, and elsewhere. And frankly, it’s hard to trust that the same team who thought GoE was ready for release is thoroughly vetting and addressing bug reports behind the scenes accurately.
Take Italy’s broken balance of power system as an example. It took 2+ years to fix, despite being tied to a major DLC and affecting one of the major WW2 nations. Players spotted the issue immediately, as would anyone who played it for more than a few minutes. I remember posts about it shortly after
release. One bug report from
March 2023 was confirmed about six months later, and the fix didn’t arrive until
mid-2024. That’s a long time for a fundamental and widely known issue to go unaddressed. I’m sure most players could list several similar examples just as frustrating.
I appreciate that the development process is complex. But at the end of the day, something clearly isn’t working. It’s hard to accept that the growing frustration from players is simply a misunderstanding. We are the ones playing the game. We see the bugs, read the forums, and participate in these communities. The disconnect between the developers and the players is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. Communication helps, but only if it leads to meaningful action. Otherwise, it just feels performative. GoE was the flashing warning sign that a real pause and reevaluation was needed. Instead, the response was underwhelming.
As I’ve said before, these issues aren’t isolated. They compound. little to no QoL updates, obvious bugs are missed, fixes take too long, underwhelming and overpriced DLCs release while core problems remain unresolved, and promises to address concerns often go unfulfilled. There’s a saying: good, fast, cheap - pick two. Right now, it feels like we’re getting none.