Quote Originally Posted by Raikai View Post
when a xpac is out they're already working on the next one.
In all my experience playing this game for 9 years, I will say this:
  1. They tend to say they are "thinking" about the next expansion in the first patch.
  2. They continue to let the ideas grow, slowly discussing them and molding them into something.
  3. As they begin work on the third patch, it becomes integral to have a plan for the next few patches which "build up" to the next expansion (well, except for Endwalker which did that all in half a patch). Once the third patch is done, they switch their focus to the new expansion and start actually developing it (concept art, areas, music, trailers, etc).
  4. Around the fourth patch we get a fan fest that reveals the first trailer, mostly concept art, and some stuff they've actually finished, a rough plot of what we're doing.
  5. Develops from there, as they update us on the progress at each fan fest into the fifth patch and onwards. In the final stretch, after the areas are done they rush through implementing all the quests and frantically localizing them all.
This is what I've gathered from following it for years. My impression is it's all ideas up until the .3 patch, then they start developing it. So your feedback is useful up until the .3 patch, it might be after that patch but as time goes on, it gets increasingly unlikely to implement it because they've already decided things.