HoI4: Graveyard of Empires devs it their mistakes. They explain what went wrong and promise changes
Paradox Development Studio promises not only short-term fixes for Hearts of Iron 4: Graveyard of Empires, but also changes in its approach to DLC scale.
The developers of Graveyard of Empires and announce a series of patches to fix this expansion. They are also planning changes in the "scale" of DLC to make it "more exciting for many people."
Paradox Interactive is no stranger to disappointing releases, just like the team responsible for the Heart of Iron series. Sometimes (or almost always), the cost might become an issue compared to the provided content, as noted by Pete "Arheo" Nicholson, the director of HoI 4.
Changes in Hearts of Iron 4: Graveyard of Empires in the short term...
However, this time the problem was not only the more or less common and justified complaints about the pricing of DLC. The Graveyard of Empires is reportedly so bad that some players see it as an incomplete product, more akin to a fan-made mod (which is certainly not a compliment here) than an official expansion.
This is a big contrast compared to the previous DLC. There have been worse additions, but only now are voices commonly emerging that Paradox Development Studio has gone too far and effectively alienated players.
Nicholson spoke out about this "obvious" failure in a post he made on Steam and the Hearts of Iron 4 subreddit. The devs are already planning short-term changes, a series of patches for GoE, which will hit the game this month and in April. The first one is set to be released tomorrow, and the next one on March 20th.
... and Paradoxical reorganization
Nicholson also posted a "mini-retrospective" of what the journey to the release of the expansion looked like. He explained that the "gold" team (Gold Studio) of PDS consistently holds meetings with representatives from every department to share their perspectives on the current project's status and how its various elements will be perceived by the players.
It was no different this time, but apparently the devs "as an organization" weren't aware of the problems plaguing the game. Nicholson emphasizes that the responsibility lies with him because, as the game director, he has the final say.
He further mentioned that the failure of Graveyard of Empires won't be ignored, and the studio needs to "seriously rethink" how the decision to release the DLC in its current state was made, and implement a reorganization to avoid similar issues in the future.
Room for improvement
The director mentioned that this is the "second" launch of the Country Pack, which fell below the studio's expectations, following last year's Trial of Allegiance. The issue at that time was supposed to be the regional prices in the "two countries" and the "scale" of the DLC content.
Meanwhile, as Nicholson itted, Graveyard of Empires disappointed not only in size, but also in content - with the former "defect" being an issue that Paradox must address to offer more at a "fundamental level." Other problems are limited - as the director hopes - to particular DLCs.
The dev is still unsure about the specific changes that need to happen in the studio. Nonetheless, as he put it, Paradox Development Studio must find a way to make DLC releases "more exciting for a larger number of people."
Where are the tests?
Nicholson isn't the only developer who responded to the justified irritation of the players. Those, although they appreciate the communication from the developers, are scratching their heads, wondering how on earth the studio - as an "organization" and "units" - was not aware of, ironically, the scale of issues with Graveyard of Empires.
Some players highlighted (with amusement and irritation) a section of the DLC's source code, which they believed showed that at least some of the regular developers knew about the expansion's poor condition. Nevertheless, the developer of these lines acknowledged that it was an "overreaction" to the necessity of testing the code with "all possible combinations of multiple DLCs".
Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that Graveyard of Empires is terribly bad. For context, "bugs" include obvious blunders such as missing icons, incomplete rules for custom games, non-functioning or faulty achievements, and a multitude of absurd, clearly underdeveloped elements (some nations practically have no content).
In principle, one session with GoE is enough to encounter at least a few serious flaws (not to mention minor bugs). How on earth, players ask, did developers miss not just one or two bugs, but a whole army of issues, many of which render certain political paths entirely unplayable? (Of course, there is also the option that the devs removed many serious errors in a short time - but this doesn't change the fact that the DLC shouldn't have been released in such a state).
Fans appreciated the open communication from the developer. Nonetheless, from the comments, it's clear that the creator's remorse and straightforwardness aren't enough. Fans have clearly lost patience, and this time they are counting on specific actions from the PDS.
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