I have mixed feelings about their handling of TW Warhammer III. Parts of it are harder to defend (Initial campaign, buggy releases) but the expectations of the fans are arguably a bit crazy. I have 1.8k hours between TWW II + III, which probably isn't an outlier of the typical fan i read feedback from as a lurker on /r/TotalWar.
People expect a DLC provide them 100s of hours of new/fresh gameplay that will allow them to play the same game for 3-6 months until the next DLC release. Comparatively you could look at the same amount of content and play 50ish hours of game play then set it down and play something else until the next DLC. Even though my play style is closer to the former, I think the expectations of the latter are more healthy. This mismatch of expectations and the pricing of any DLC (which adds in macro factors outside of the Dev's control) has lead to such toxicity on the subreddit at times.
It's also interesting how much that toxicity has subsided in recent months with positive releases, better/consistent developer correspondence. Which maybe points to my expectations opinion being a bit wrong.
Subreddits are generally cesspools, especially games like these.
Like you said, when people have literally thousands of hours spent on something, they can get passionate about it to a bit of an unhealthy degree.
I just bought WH3 the other day, and at least as a fresh player it's a crazy good game. I'm sure there's lots to be desired in terms of balance and all that, but that's the kind of thing you start worrying once you're 1000 hours into the game. For now my sole focus is "Holy shit a giant boat skeleton colossus that shoots a giant cannonball?!", repeated for every single new enemy type I see.
The game has so much content it's almost overwhelming, to be honest, so I can see myself spending the next 800 hours being amazed by everything until I start seeing cracks.
People expect a DLC provide them 100s of hours of new/fresh gameplay that will allow them to play the same game for 3-6 months until the next DLC release. Comparatively you could look at the same amount of content and play 50ish hours of game play then set it down and play something else until the next DLC. Even though my play style is closer to the former, I think the expectations of the latter are more healthy. This mismatch of expectations and the pricing of any DLC (which adds in macro factors outside of the Dev's control) has lead to such toxicity on the subreddit at times.
It's also interesting how much that toxicity has subsided in recent months with positive releases, better/consistent developer correspondence. Which maybe points to my expectations opinion being a bit wrong.