I get the impression Paradox players are either dedicating their whole gaming lifestyle to one simulator, or are only intended to buy a few of those DLCs. The picture of what it costs to buy every DLC at once is probably a bit disingenuous, just like the total cost of buying every Magic: The Gathering card ever produced.
It does sound like keeping the DLC out of in-game menus would at least avoid distraction until you’re out of game browsing the Steam store, which seems like a plus.
I’ve bought every Stellaris DLC over the years, and I’m not even a particularly avid Stellaris player (347 hours played (which while notable is peanuts compared to the superfans’ hours) and haven’t played recently). Here’s my thoughts on it:
I buy DLCs day 1 that I am supremely interested in, and everything else I pick up on discount either during a sale or from another site (not sketchy key resellers - I use https://isthereanydeal.com/, which lists more legitimate sites). In multiplayer, all players can use the DLC the host has, so I’ve been the dedicated host for my friend group there. I don’t think the massive amount of DLCs is good, but it is at least tolerable (I liken it to a subscription model) and I enjoy how the devs share some of their insights during the development process. Despite all the flaws it has, Stellaris is a really cool sci-fi 4x game that probably has the least ridiculous learning curve compared to other Paradox strategy games.
I get the impression Paradox players are either dedicating their whole gaming lifestyle to one simulator, or are only intended to buy a few of those DLCs. The picture of what it costs to buy every DLC at once is probably a bit disingenuous, just like the total cost of buying every Magic: The Gathering card ever produced.
It does sound like keeping the DLC out of in-game menus would at least avoid distraction until you’re out of game browsing the Steam store, which seems like a plus.
I’ve bought every Stellaris DLC over the years, and I’m not even a particularly avid Stellaris player (347 hours played (which while notable is peanuts compared to the superfans’ hours) and haven’t played recently). Here’s my thoughts on it:
I buy DLCs day 1 that I am supremely interested in, and everything else I pick up on discount either during a sale or from another site (not sketchy key resellers - I use https://isthereanydeal.com/, which lists more legitimate sites). In multiplayer, all players can use the DLC the host has, so I’ve been the dedicated host for my friend group there. I don’t think the massive amount of DLCs is good, but it is at least tolerable (I liken it to a subscription model) and I enjoy how the devs share some of their insights during the development process. Despite all the flaws it has, Stellaris is a really cool sci-fi 4x game that probably has the least ridiculous learning curve compared to other Paradox strategy games.
I just buy the game and pirate the DLCs, but don’t tell Paradox about it