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@John-Paul-RAGE Limited Quests for events and collabs go as far back as Episode 2, but the fourth Recommended Quest aka. the Level-Up Quests were added as a function in Episode 3 (2015/08/05). Three of the Level-Up Quests currently featured in the Japanese version (City, Mothership, and Ultimate Areas) are from Ep1-3.
imma say this if they expect people to be happy with hitting cap on all classes as something to do this games going to die very fast
Well, SEGA of Japan just put out a news update that basically says that they are going to have to adjust their release and development schedule for the Japanese version due to COVID-19 measures and the transition to work-from-home, so I'm guessing that this will also effect the planned update schedule for the NA server.
@AndrlCh well they have fucked themselves then.. by slowly releasing content cause its gonna die here in the west now because JP will always take priority
@AndrlCh I am hoping it doesn't impact the NA service delivery too much since one of the benefits of the Azure server is that it is a remote server anyways.
Couldn't imagine that working on from home would prevent them from remoting in time make their changes. Unless their VPN infrastructure is garbage, then it would be difficult to do anything that requires a lot of bandwidth.
We will see what news we get from our staff tomorrow I suppose.
@NezumiiXD releasing 6 episodes in NA would have been an idiotic move that only pandered to the players from the JP servers.
Not releasing it all at once was the smart choice. The not-so-smart choice is the lack of a roadmap, plans, or anything concerning the future.
@John-Paul-RAGE they fucked themselves by no releasing episodes 4 and 5... there is stuff in game we cant upgrade or do anything with simply because they are parts of later episodes.... not to mention they have nerfd drop rates on things to make things move slower... to create a artificial grind
@NezumiiXD what drop rates have been nerfed? The market is saturated with 13* weapons that came from field drops, it took me ages to get my first when they came out. The pace seems to be enough to integrate the newer audience into the game, the content, and the mechanical of the battles.
1 month per episode for the first 3 episodes isn't too bad if you consider it from a new Player's perspective. I think Episode 4 will come out by the end of Spring (June 16th to be exact) and that the remaining episodes will come quarterly until we are caught up.
Now if you are not planning on contributing to the speculation of the flow of the content updates, there is nothing more to say, there are plenty of other griefing threads you can participate in.
@John-Paul-RAGE 11* units... saikis are 10 mil for the backs and all that and ive farmed the hell out of them never to see them drop on NA went to jp and got 5 drops in 5 runs...
I have some idea of what the roadmap might possibly look like.
One thing that many people seem to overlook is the fact that the game's currently still considered to be in an Open Beta state. Yes it receives updates but the game hasn't officially launched. I believe the random factor that is the Open Beta (it can last for as long as bugs and other issues keep popping up) is one reason we don't know any idea on what's to come... any plans Sega would have may not be in terms of any specific dates but rather a "this many months after official launch" sort of scenario.
Kinda hard to describe but i'll try my best. Many players are complaining about a lack of content in the game's Open Beta... while some attribute this to a repeat of PSU's case I do see something else. I personally think the issue here is that the current content available is the current content the game will need to have for its official FULL launch and when PC releases (more on that later). So on one hand, the only updates we might get during Open Beta are the different outfits and such and maybe some rotation of UQs, but true major content updates may not come until AFTER the game's "Officially" no longer in Open Beta.
I do not wish to come off as blindly optimistic, but I do think there hasn't been much evidence AGAINST the issues reported during Open Beta NOT being fixed. I think that behind the scenes, many of the issues plaguing the Open Beta are being looked into... and the fixes are being implemented into the "Launch" client.
Assuming things are going smoothly with whatever issues needed to be addressed in Open Beta, we can expect to see the game's launch either late April or early May. This may be followed up by the PC version's release on the same day... why do I think that? Well (mind you, these reasons are very speculative)...
More evidence popped up of the game having a Steam release, I personally believe the game may launch simultaneously on the Microsoft Store and Steam. What little we know of the PC version seems to indicate that it would be similar to JP's PC version complete with a game launcher used for options and updates. Given how similar online games with their own launchers and updates are handled (TERA, Final Fantasy XIV), Microsoft Store and Steam would be nothing more than just a distribution platform that installs the base game and launcher. This does also mean that there may not be much in terms of Steamworks integration or things like Achievements in order to keep both PC clients as identical as possible.
Like I previously stated, the launch content may not be too different from the content currently available in Open Beta. Gating content serves not only the purpose of easing localization timelines but is also one of the things Sega's doing to make the game more accessible to new players. Given the new wave of new players that would be coming when the PC version launches, it only makes sense that both be on similar stages in terms of updates.
That said, we can certainly expect some content that wasn't available in the Open Beta such as Crafting or the Challenge and Battle Modes (hinted at here: https://pso2.com/manual/menu/quickmenu with the mention of "Universal Ships" which are the Shared Ships used in Japan for Battle and Challenge Mode) and late into the game's initial release (some months before the next Episode update) we may see Episode 3 UQs become active.
Several months (2-4) after the game's no longer in Beta and the PC version launches, Episode 4 content will be available.
I think we will be getting both Episode 5 and 6 at once. At launch we have the Oracle Saga available initially consisting of Episode 1-3. Episode 4 makes up the standalone "Earth Saga" and as previously mentioned, might be released all on its own. However, Episode 5 and 6 make up an entire saga known as the "Photoner Saga".
Given the patterns:
I do think we may have the full "Photoner Saga" released at once. I do especially believe this might be teh case due to Sega's demonstration that they are willing to streamline / work around things that didn't work such as them removing Old Type Weapons entirely. Episode 5 was quite unpopular to the point that its original roadmap, planned story direction and content was abandoned halfway through in favour of transitioning the game to Episode 6. As a result there really isn't that much content that Episode 5 could offer to begin with aside from Buster Quests and Dark Blast (Scion Classes, ill get to eventually).
As a result, we may see content from Episode 5 and 6 available at the same time and both theirs story released at once (though much like with the story mode, you have to complete Episode 5 first before you can play Episode 6... this is the SAME in the JP version).
In terms of UQ schedule, I think much like how we currently have Episode 1-3 available but most UQs are from Episode 1 or 2 with us maybe getting Episode 3 UQs late into release prior to the release of Episode 4, the first two/four months might consist of Episode 5 UQs before eventually having Episode 6 UQs.
Or as many JP players may know it as, "Successor Classes". Much like NA version has all the basic and advanced classes available at once, I think the NA version may not see a gradual release of "Scion Classes" but rather a batch update... literally a post on the front page of the website "SCION CLASSES ARE ARE HERE, READ ALL BOUT EM!".
Now this could get messy... the availability of Summoner does show that Sega doesn't need to go in chronological order to release classes so... Scion Classes could very well release in Episode 4.
Now, I do think the situation with Scion Classes MIGHT be a similar situation to Episode 6... we are getting a new Scion Class in the JP version so we might not get Scion Classes in the JP version until that new Scion Class is released so that it could be included with the 'batch of Scion Classes' available to the NA version.
Wew, thats all I got for now, tell me what you all think! xD
@Leonkh99 ROLMAO... game will be long dead with that road map... Like 2-4 months for episode 4.... dude people will have moved on to something different at that point...
@NezumiiXD from this point on I will just flag your off-topic and combative posts for moderation.
@Leonkh99 thanks for your insight and take on it. I also feel similarly in regards to it being how long NA focuses on content pieces rather than specific dates. I feel the game will have to leave open beta and have the PC join for at least a couple weeks or longer before EP 4 rolls out.
I just finished EP 3 campaign and failed to realize how many different significant UQs are tied to that episode. It would be hard to properly rotate that many mechanics in a 1 month windows like it *could be * doing at the moment. We will see tomorrow of the first Mining Base Defense and DFLuther get added to the UQ cycle.
A significant challenge (as I see it) will be balancing the random UQ encounters to allow players coming in at full release the opportunity to still participate in the Unique Badge farming, Elder, Luther, PD, Apprentice, etc.
If we are moving on to Episode 2-3 UQ wide this month, I say the average is adequate balancing both new players and experienced players. If we stagnate any longer in the Episode 1 stuff, I worry it may progress too slow.
@NezumiiXD Ep 4 would be very welcomed imo. Honestly Ep 1-3 are extremely boring. Ep 4 is when things start actually getting good.
@NezumiiXD said in Let's Speculate the NA Release Roadmap! [No arguing about PC dates]:
@AndrlCh well they have fucked themselves then.. by slowly releasing content cause its gonna die here in the west now because JP will always take priority
You mean like literally every MMO that is made in the East? Some of which are still thriving right now?
@John-Paul-RAGE thats not even off topic or combative... lets talk 2 -4 months for new content... not EQ/UQ alot of people are already getting bored ... with the only thing left to do right now is max out each class its created a boring slog hence why most people are sitting in lobby chatting... now you make people wait 2-4 months on top of that for new content you may as well not even bring that content in because more than half your player base is going to have moved on.....
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