I finished my second playthrough of the Elden Ring DLC and the entire playthrough overall. I tried and tried to beat the final DLC boss without using summons or ashes, but the closest I got over many attempts was about ~30% health. I eventually broke and used mimic tear for the 2nd phase and beat it the 2nd time I reached that point. I've also been playing some XCOM2 on commander difficulty
Started a new Vicky 3 playthrough as Japan on the new patch, did the Meiji Restorations in the 1880s, currently #6 great power as of ~1910. It seems like they changed how the investment pool works and I don't understand the difference between the different laws because none of the tooltips were updated. The PB also seem way more powerful than they used to be. Foreign investment in your vassals is cool and good, though I'm not sure how to do it to non-vassal countries (I would like to buy one China plz). Maybe you need a treaty port? Who knows. My literacy has been going down, lmao, peaked at 75% down to 70%. It's strange that you seem to get one type of Power Bloc (the trade one) without the DLC, but it seems like a nice little buff for great powers.
Edit: oh also they patched out the double uno reverse sway exploit which was probably good.