COVID showed why the Developers need to release Relic content sooner.

[Euphares]

Forgive me if I'm taking this the wrong way or repeating arguments. But..

"Developers should plan for unprecedented global disasters (that are not over BTW) so we can play the game we like more." feels.. entitled.

Sure it'd be nice if they weren't trying to have big fancy patches and could instead release stuff slowly for us to do...

But that was really not the example to use.

Not only are we getting the revamp to ARR we've been asking for forever.. we're getting a bunch of other reworks and conveniences, mostly interlinked. It's possible the systems had to be dropped as a whole.

Yes more content would be nice, yes they could plan for minor delays and inconveniences. This was not one of them.

I'm not sure how its entitled. No amount of preparation can completely mitigate something to the scale of Covid(global pandemic,) however it quite literally looked like they had zero fail-safes in place. We truly don't know how deep the damage to the game's future content schedule runs but we can speculate.

In a game that has already skeletal content releases, their current methodology just doesn't work, and we are directly observing the consequences of the stubbornness from them, and I feel Shadowbringers will forever be tarnished as the 'what now' expansion which is such a shame because it started off so strong.

All the updates they are putting forth are extremely welcome and good additions to the game, I'd never say otherwise. But they are not worth a six-month content drought. I resubbed at the very tail-end of this patch and I'm still feeling the effects the lull is having(worth noting that I am someone who enjoys pretty much everything this game has to offer.)

Additionally, there is nothing suggesting that this won't be a pattern for 5.4, 5.5, and maybe even the next expansion. Sure people are okay with a one-time deal, but can we really say its acceptable if it becomes the new norm? Should we be okay with such giant gaps for content that rarely has longevity? In my opinion I don't think so and I think its valid to call it out as a flaw of the dev team.


If we are expected to still pay the full subscription during this crisis then its not unreasonable at all to expect the devs to remain somewhat on track during it as well.

[Krotoan]

I'm not sure how its entitled. No amount of preparation can completely mitigate something to the scale of Covid(global pandemic,) however it quite literally looked like they had zero fail-safes in place. We truly don't know how deep the damage to the game's future content schedule runs but we can speculate.

Entitled in that regardless of severity of the reason, it's been asked that the GAME we play continue to have stuff to do. Does this not sound like slightly misplaced priorities and expectations? We lost a seasonal event. They said they plan to remain on schedule for the rest of the updates.

In a game that has already skeletal content releases, their current methodology just doesn't work, and we are directly observing the consequences of the stubbornness from them, and I feel Shadowbringers will forever be tarnished as the 'what now' expansion which is such a shame because it started off so strong.

While I don't feel the same your perspective is just as valid. Truly if they maintain their pace they will lose players like you, but how many of the players are as desperate for content as you are? It's been pretty consistent for the last couple patches and as the TYPE of content has changed it was to be expected that the actual content of the updates changed. Different things take different development investments and as we know the team rarely changes size (not the devs fault, SE likely don't provide them with extra headcount regardless of success), the speed at which we get things will change.

All the updates they are putting forth are extremely welcome and good additions to the game, I'd never say otherwise. But they are not worth a six-month content drought. I resubbed at the very tail-end of this patch and I'm still feeling the effects the lull is having(worth noting that I am someone who enjoys pretty much everything this game has to offer.)

Additionally, there is nothing suggesting that this won't be a pattern for 5.4, 5.5, and maybe even the next expansion. Sure people are okay with a one-time deal, but can we really say its acceptable if it becomes the new norm? Should we be okay with such giant gaps for content that rarely has longevity? In my opinion I don't think so and I think its valid to call it out as a flaw of the dev team.

Why would something with a cause like a once in a lifetime pandemic REPEAT? They are adjusting, they continue to work to produce our GAME despite what goes on in the world. If the reason the updates come slower is because people outside are DYING I'm absolutely fine with it being slower or non existant. There is also the possibility a significant person or department gets decimated by the virus. What will you say then? They should have planned for people to die?

If we are expected to still pay the full subscription during this crisis then its not unreasonable at all to expect the devs to remain somewhat on track during it as well.

Therein lies the misconception. You are NOT expected to pay during a dearth of content. You are welcome to stop until it resumes. Therefore it is unreasonable to expect that the devs maintain pace even with extremely impactful unforseen global disasters.