It's there, but I don't really pay much attention to it,other than the occasional surprise enemy in a war. Yes you can break alliances between other nations, but if your ally is a great power as well, and you and them are in a war against another one, then all of a sudden the Ottoman can join against you. Great Powers is more annoying than helpfull. The one feature I couldn't go without anymore is having queens (which I now notice is a dlc thing, as opposed to a patch one) which basically means no more regency councils. It's more of a 'fun' dlc, than a 'necessary' one tbh.
