Crassmaster: They're a game publisher, they aren't your friend.
Crosmando: Sure, that doesn't mean that we should just accept that all publishers are inherently evil companies that will stop at nothing to rob you of every penny. It just means that if a publisher does do questionable things, they can get called out for it, as I'm doing here, and the same way many people have been talking about Pdox's DLC model for a long time now.
It isn't their responsibility to worry about some guy who has to have every single add-on for every single game. If someone is that obsessive, they have bigger problems than a game company releasing a lot of add-ons, and they should probably take it upon themselves to seek help.
Crosmando: I suppose you've not yet encountered the concept of customer protection?
And Paradox also DO release substantial expansion DLC packages for their games. These are just purely optional extras by their art department for anyone who wants them. You call it nickel and dime bullshit, I call it 100% optional stuff that nobody needs. Want it? There it is. Don't? You don't need it. And I prefer not having unnecessary fluff like that shoehorned into bigger packages to jack up their price.
Crosmando: The only reason they price them all in 0.99, 1.99, 2.99 tiny packs is because they seem like so little on their own, so they can sucker some people into buying them, and then package them in a "complete" edition latter for those that don't buy into the trick. Should we just call anyone who buys Pdox DLC right after day 1 an idiot? Probably, but even idiots deserve some measure of protection. Preying on the impulses of people is sleazy business practice, a good business practice would be to actually produce 29.99 full expansion packs and only that, and earn respect, instead of making cash grabs.
You can call it idealism and dismiss it, but it's not because their are companies which don't resort to those tricks. I call out Paradox because in PC gaming they're the worst at it, even say Bethesda which I'm not a fan of their games personally, at least they produce actual expansions of length and content and price them accordingly, their isn't two dozen different Dragonborn Skin Packs for different clothes.
There are many shades of grey between 'not your friend' and 'inherently evil'. The vast majority of companies fall into those shades of grey.
As for customer protection, it's important...for things that matter. Sorry, but game DLC packages don't even enter into the sphere of actually important customer concerns, like price gouging on the actual necessities of life. And while I'm all for helping people avoid being ripped off, the onus is on the consumer to decide when they're going to buy something. There is no universal truth that determines whether something is worth it or not, regardless of how much you seem to think there is. Every single buyer makes up their own mind, which is supposed to be the point.
If somebody truly is so obsessive that they have an actual need to own everything for a game regardless of cost, it's on them to seek help. It isn't the job of society, a game company, or whoever else to protect people from bad decisions. Offer help so that someone who truly does have a problem, absolutely. But the person with the problem needs to own up without everyone stepping up to act as their nanny.
Small DLC packs are priced like they are to make them an impulse buy, the same as small little items you'll find at the checkout line at a supermarket or a department store. Guess what, neither example is evil. Describing it as such, and branding anyone who buys such a package an idiot, is pretty much just overheated rhetoric. If people want their in-game version of the Bismarck to look like that specific ship, rather than looking like a generic battleship with the Bismarck name and stats, they should go right ahead and buy it. That's their call. If a person doesn't care, that's cool too. I like the fact that someone can make that choice for themselves.
Different companies have different DLC models. Again, one isn't magically and universally 'right' and another magically and universally 'wrong', regardless of how much you seem to want to see it that way. Some companies do micro-DLC. Others do larger packages. Others do both. And that's fine.