Sephirot, Nidhogg, Sophia Mount from Totem Exchange when?

[Nezerius]

I wouldn't expect them to release before 3.55. Nidhogg is only a patch old and still more than capable of wiping groups even at ilvl 250. As for why they're holding them back, they want people to keep farming. Only Sephirot is really "old" at this point. I constantly see Sophia parties in PF and even the occasional Nidhogg. Increasing the bird drops means once people get them, they'll likely have no reason to touch any of them again.

3.55 would be way too late to add the Nidhogg bird to the vendor.

I'd expect them to be adding the Sophia and Zurvan birds to the totem exchange vendor in either 3.55 or 3.56 (2.x primal mounts droprates were buffed in 2.56), as a further incentive for players to continue playing the game. You have to keep in mind that the entirety of the 3.5 patch (3.55 included) will be around for longer than the other patches. Going by the current patch cycle, we'll likely see 3.5 mid or late january, followed by a space of almost 5 months until the expansion's early summer release.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

3.55 would be way too late to add the Nidhogg bird to the vendor.

I'd expect them to be adding the Sophia and Zurvan birds to the totem exchange vendor in either 3.55 or 3.56 (2.x primal mounts droprates were buffed in 2.56), as a further incentive for players to continue playing the game. You have to keep in mind that the entirety of the 3.5 patch (3.55 included) will be around for longer than the other patches. Going by the current patch cycle, we'll likely see 3.5 mid or late january, followed by a space of almost 5 months until the expansion's early summer release.

Not really. Thordan was added in 3.35-- nearly a year and a half following his release. If 3.55 were released in say, April. That would be roughly the same timeline. Nidhogg is only four months old. They aren't going to make totems available that fast since no one will touch him afterwards. As for patch cycles, I personally estimate we will see them as follows:

3.5: January 10th
3.55: April 25th
Stormblood: Sometime early July

If they do a minor patch in between, thus making it 3.55 and 3.56, then we'll probably see Nidhogg totems around February. I doubt anytime before.

I would expect them to add the Sephirot, Nidhogg and Sophia birds to Bertana's shop in 3.45, if they were going to continue releasing them in three's. They likely will wait to add Sophia's until a later patch, however. It would be nice if they'd let you purchase the mounts with 99x totems right away, since I personally am against the RNG nonsense (seen way too many bad players get the mounts). Being a skilled player and having done 112 runs of Sophia and losing on 11 birds, I'd much prefer something that requires effort as opposed to something that's sheer luck.

The reason they don't is your 112 runs likely meant jumping into Party Finder. If you were guaranteed a bird after 99 attempts, you'd now have no reason to touch Sophia EX. With the cross server PF being implemented in 3.5, we'll be pulling from everyone on our respective data centers. Basically, they want you to have some measure of bad luck to assure you'll keep doing the content. Once its old enough people have generally moved on, they then buff the rates to get people back in and offer an alternative method to beat RNG since it isn't relevant content anymore.

[Nezerius]

Not really. Thordan was added in 3.35-- nearly a year and a half following his release. If 3.55 were released in say, April. That would be roughly the same timeline. Nidhogg is only four months old. They aren't going to make totems available that fast since no one will touch him afterwards. As for patch cycles, I personally estimate we will see them as follows:

3.5: January 10th
3.55: April 25th
Stormblood: Sometime early July

If they do a minor patch in between, thus making it 3.55 and 3.56, then we'll probably see Nidhogg totems around February. I doubt anytime before.

Either way, all of them will likely be on the totem exchange vendor by 3.56, just like all the primal ponies had their drop rates increased in 2.56. This way, players will have even more incentive to farm for these birds, and to keep playing the game, since the entirety of 3.5 will be around for about 1.5 months longer than the usual patches.

[Amnesiac]

The reason they don't is your 112 runs likely meant jumping into Party Finder. If you were guaranteed a bird after 99 attempts, you'd now have no reason to touch Sophia EX. With the cross server PF being implemented in 3.5, we'll be pulling from everyone on our respective data centers. Basically, they want you to have some measure of bad luck to assure you'll keep doing the content. Once its old enough people have generally moved on, they then buff the rates to get people back in and offer an alternative method to beat RNG since it isn't relevant content anymore.

I understand they need some way to keep the content relevant, it's just an absolute bother to carry DPS only to lose over and over again, a lot of the time to players who do poorly, like dying half the fight. It'd be nice if they made it more competitive, maybe that might even help keep the content relevant (i.e. A leaderboards for fastest clears).

[bounddreamer]

Not really. Thordan was added in 3.35-- nearly a year and a half following his release.

Sorry, that's not correct. Minstrel's Ballad: Thordan's Reign released in Patch 3.1 in November 2015. Patch 3.35, which allowed people to turn in Heaven's Ward fragments for the round lanner whistle, released in July 2016. That's actually eight months and not a year and a half.

Sephirot extreme released in Patch 3.2, February 2016, eight months ago. I'd expect to see a totem turn in for him at the next patch. And I really, really hope we get it, because my 99 totems are waiting.