Intermission begins in 6 days?

[Ayrilana.1396]

3 hours ago, Follyfoot.2803 said:

I don't even understand what this intermission means.

it means that they felt that players would get overwhelmed from doing two hours worth of old living story content on top of doing old festival content where it’s more efficient to just do the dailies and then complete any unfinished achievements at the end for the meta achievement. 

[Bast.7253]

16 hours ago, Pifil.5193 said:

 

I've read this theory in a couple of places, that some or all of LS4 and the final 8 week tier will drop after the expansion to fill the gap between the expansion and whatever kind of LS releases they will have and I hope that's true.

I think the intermission makes me believe it even more. If they were waiting for all releases that would leave it being released around November, right? And Wintersday is one of the largest festivals which would be just around the corner. Not to mention the majority of them leave the studio for like a month around that time.

Releasing an expansion so close to the time people leave for the holidays seems like it could be a bit of a fiasco. Not to mention the anniversary is when the Festival of the Four Winds arrives, and with Lab cliffs being heavily Canthan along with the anniversary it just makes the most sense to me.

Not to mention they haven't really done any lengthy betas outside of release as far as I can remember, so I don't see any reason why the beta starting end of July or shortly after would be any different. Doing the presentation in July and then releasing the expansion a month later or late August/Early September seems like a much better time.

It would leave them having November as a follow-up to finish the legendary amulet and run between Halloween and Christmas. Then they could start their next living story season the following year, if they plan to make one. 

I understand the pessimism behind thinking this release will be later but it makes much more sense to me to be soon after the livestream event. Not to mention the livestream event gives them the opportunity to announce a fast release date and keep the hype moving. Otherwise they're going to be competing with other games later in the year that already have a stronger following.