The recently released “Coronations” DLC for Crusader Kings 3 has encountered significant backlash, prompting an apology from the development team. Since its launch in 2020, Crusader Kings 3 has received several smaller DLCs, but few have provoked the overwhelmingly negative player response seen on Steam for “Coronations.” Players have expressed not just disappointment, but considerable anger regarding the quality of this specific release.
In light of the criticism, Riad, the QA Manager for PDS Black, has stepped forward to apologize to the player base and accept responsibility for the DLC`s flawed state. His message was shared on Steam alongside update 1.17.0.1, which aims to resolve many of the issues raised by players. “Coronations” introduced mechanics for rulers to undergo official crowning ceremonies and to make pledges to their kingdom`s populace. However, many of these oaths proved either exceptionally difficult to complete or simply failed to register as fulfilled within the game, contributing to the DLC`s “overwhelmingly negative” Steam reviews.
“I`m sorry,” Riad wrote. “Coronations was not up to the standard you deserve, and that`s on me. As the QA Manager for the studio, it is my job to ensure that our releases meet the quality assurance vision we have set out. It is clear we didn`t give the project the resources and attention it needed, and the result was a release that let you down. You have every right to be upset, and I want to acknowledge that openly.”
Riad explained that a substantial portion of Paradox`s resources was dedicated to a major upcoming Crusader Kings 3 expansion, “All Under Heaven.” This allocation left “Coronations” with fewer resources, ultimately leading to the broken oath mechanics, which Riad attributed to “last-minute” changes. He reiterated a strong desire to improve future offerings and regain the community`s trust.
A notable response came from Steam user Mewzle, who, despite having purchased every prior DLC and generally giving the developer the benefit of the doubt, expressed a shift in sentiment towards Paradox.
“If you really feel this way Paradox,” Mewzle stated, “then integrate this garbage into the main game, and STOP producing garbage like this that alienates your player base. This is NOT $5 worth of content and you know it. The modding community could create (and has created) something better than this slop in five minutes and not make a dime … Again, if you truly want to be better, then be better.”
The 1.17.0.1 update directly addresses key issues, including the incorrect “Oathbreaker” event that would trigger regardless of oath completion. Below is a comprehensive list of fixes:
Bugfixes and Improvements in Update 1.17.0.1
- Fixed the issue with always getting the Oathbreaker event, regardless of whether you completed the oath or not.
- The buildings required for the three `build special oath buildings` oaths have been changed from tier 3 to tier 2.
- The costs and modifiers for special oath buildings have been reduced across the board.
- The triggers for special oath buildings have been simplified, requiring fewer prerequisites than previously.
- The time allowed to complete these specific oaths has been increased from 10 years to 20 years.
- Specifically for the spiritual oath, requirements were switched from tier 3 to 2, and vice versa.
- The Alliance oath now requires 3 alliances instead of 5.
- The generic Building Oath has been reduced from 10 buildings to 8, and its available completion time has been increased from 15 years to 20 years.
- The Legendary Hunt oath has been changed from 3 hunts to 1, and its available time increased from 20 years to 40 years.
- Fixed the Prepare Heir oath decision to check for the proper scope in its requirements, and also removed the gold cost.
- Added two new modifiers for the AI: warlike oaths will now increase their war chance, and peace oaths will decrease it.
- Removed health bonuses and penalties from Prepare the Heir rewards.
- Implemented additional checks for the AI to ensure they try to take oaths that make strategic sense.
- Fixed the End the Struggle oath to correctly indicate its targeted struggle area and massively increased its availability time from 20 years to 50 years.
- Increased the time available to complete the Repent Oath from 10 years to 20 years.
- Corrected Anointment Doctrines and Anointment activity types from being available to faiths with Temporal Head of Faith (these are for Spiritual HoF faiths only); temporal HoF faiths now have guaranteed access to regular coronation instead.
- Addressed duplication bugs and self-crowning penalties caused by a Temporal Head of Faith acting as a Coronation host.
- Blocked building oaths for Nomadic and Tribal characters.