Can't really answer that at the moment, I only got a few hours to dip my toe in yesterday night and the whole economy model got a complete rework in the free part of the 2.2 patch.

The official forum is not very helpful either at the moment since the changes were so radical. There are some legitimate complaints, some things that could be legitimate complaints given more time to evaluate them and a lot of complaints that require various levels of facepalms.

I have seen people complaining about being able to steamroll neighbors as well as people mentioning neighbors with power levels they see no hope of matching.

Neah, I want my games to be complete. I have no time nor patience to play a game more than once. So I'll rather wait 3-4 years when all DLCs are out. However Paradox seems to keep just churning them out.

Anyone else find the idea of gutting the core mechanics of game that been out for 2 and half years, fundamentally bassackwards?

This is what sequels are for!

Just venting here.

To be honest, not really. Mostly because I have high hopes for these changes and look forward to taking a much better look this weekend.

Alternatively, assume 2.2 is a new game and 2.1 is simply the abandoned predecessor. Both GOG and Steam allow you to step back to a previous version, you can still play it, you will just not get new content for it. But that is usually what happens to the predecessor once the sequel is out anyway, only here you get the sequel without paying for it (at least the free content).

Until you start to recognize that paradox DLCs come with updates to the main game which expand the main game to be compatible to the DLC content but mostly breaks the game for people WITHOUT the DLC as everything revolves around the DLC features ... so they are not really optional, that's why you are lucky to have the game on GoG to go back to an old version as every new version after a certain DLC you didn't buy will most likely cripple your game experience. If you don't believe me read a bit in forums around paradox games which churn DLCs out like they are on steroids ... there are paradox games which cost around 40 EUR plus 360 EUR in DLCs (Europa Universalis) ... if this looks sane to you I'm wondering. :P

PS: Nothing against a honest addon, fair priced for a fair value like we were used to in the long gone past ...

When Stellaris hit on GOG, I did buy it piecemeal and played a while before completing it because I liked what I played and researched the content of the expansions. At no point did I have the feeling the game was "mostly broken" without the additional content nor did I stumble over a credible account why that should be the case.

Down the road, that might start causing problems. But right now you can get everything Stellaris (excluding MegaCorp) for 74,29€. And that includes everything else, even pure eye candy and the story packs which add additional flavour to galaxy exploration without real features.

I'm not a big fan of Paradox and their politics. I'm not going to comment on Europa Universalis either (for the pure and simple reason that I don't give a damn about it and I'm not willing to sacrifice the time to research it). I care about Stellaris and Stellaris is not yet a problem candidate for me.
This is the first time a major update Stellaris hit for me and I have no problem paying a bit for a new expansion either. That's much cheaper than WoW was and from what I can see so far the Stellaris guys did a more interesting update than I remember from Blizzard.
The entry cost for a new player might be forbidding at some point in the future but considering the enjoyable playtime I got out of Stellaris, I see no reason to complain from my perspective.

And if at some point I don't feel the it's worth it anymore, I can still stop at the last version I felt was interesting. But that is not limited to GOG either, according to the official forum it works on Steam as well (and most likely using Paradox' direct download as well, but I haven't tried either).

you can watch the new game (with the changes) https://www.twitch.tv/videos/346920793

My current playthrough is with a totalitarian regime which is against capitalism/trade, so I think I won't get this DLC (is it possible to have it installed but deactivate megacorps ingame?).

You can enable / disable DLC at the pre-game launcher

hold on.. so you have to get this DLC to build mega-structures?

you can't build mega-structrues without it?

I don't have the DLC but the description suggests that mega-structures exist without MegaCorp DLC but that MC adds three new ones...

"MORE MEGASTRUCTURES
The budget has been approved for your own glorious Matter Decompressor, Mega-Art Installation or Strategic Coordination Center to acquire new scaling capabilities for your megalopolis."