117190-drop-4-status-update

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In light of the significant staff reductions and the progress of Megaservers and Drop 3 since the last Nexus Report and State of the Game, can we please be updated on the status of Drop 4?
 
* Confirmation of the expected content (in broad terms)
* Confirmation of the expected feature changes (categories)
* An expected release date range
 
Thank you.	
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			+1	
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			How about we wait for drop 3 before we start speculating on drop 4...mmkay?	
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How about we wait for drop 3 before we start speculating on drop 4...mmkay?
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Well ever since frost jumped ship the nexus report has been on delay or cancellation.
Employment Terminations, random down times (or very long) down times, "Mega server" - "update" beyond late (should of been day 2 or 5 at the latest of going live). Drop 3 pushed so far back as to give time for the population to further decline, I am willing to try new games while we are waiting so pst/pm me some suggestions or lists or sites that host new releases I am all for that at this point.
 	
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How about we wait for drop 3 before we start speculating on drop 4...mmkay?
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			I would assume they still plan on the quarterly schedule until I hear otherwise.	
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I would assume they still plan on the quarterly schedule until I hear otherwise.
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			As far as I know, they are aiming for sometimes in January. There should, to the very least, have a new dungeon (ProtoStar Games) and itemization changes. That's all I know.	
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			So far, they have talked about the upcoming drop next month, and the "January" drop. So, I think the goal would be to start the quarterly drops in January, which would make a nice drop schedule really (January, April, July, October) . We all know how fickle timelines in games can be, though.	
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			When NCSoft bought City of Heroes from Cryptic and created Paragon Studios, we players were told the staff had been down to about 16-30 people, which was shocking because they'd been putting out 3 of the best updates the game ever saw, and they did it on time.The kind of cutbacks at Carbine weren't that bad, and the quarterly schedule won't be a problem.	
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I would assume they still plan on the quarterly schedule until I hear otherwise.
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So far, they have talked about the upcoming drop next month, and the "January" drop. So, I think the goal would be to start the quarterly drops in January, which would make a nice drop schedule really (January, April, July, October) . We all know how fickle timelines in games can be, though.
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			It's baffling that anyone would expect them to be able to hand out any kind of estimations without first seeing how much the staff reductions affect their development speed to begin with.  It happened within a week, and development cycles are much longer.  How could they possibly know any sort of estimations to give without first measuring the impact post-reduction?  Which they haven't yet been able to see? Considering they haven't had that opportunity, demands like this are pointless.  Even if they could throw out an estimation that far in advance, why would they?  No reason to give people on the forums fuel to go back and say "Well you said such and such back then", as if things don't change.	
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			I admit I am curious as to how this massive staff reduction has affected their time table. I would appreciate them letting us know if it hasn't changed things, has, or might.	
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^
Really, since they haven't told otherwise. The timetable will still be on, and it also assumes what happens after drop 3. So chill mmkay?
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It's baffling that anyone would expect them to be able to hand out any kind of estimations without first seeing how much the staff reductions affect their development speed to begin with.  It happened within a week, and development cycles are much longer.  How could they possibly know any sort of estimations to give without first measuring the impact post-reduction?  Which they haven't yet been able to see? Considering they haven't had that opportunity, demands like this are pointless.  Even if they could throw out an estimation that far in advance, why would they?  No reason to give people on the forums fuel to go back and say "Well you said such and such back then", as if things don't change.
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In light of the significant staff reductions and the progress of Megaservers and Drop 3 since the last Nexus Report and State of the Game, can we please be updated on the status of Drop 4?
 
* Confirmation of the expected content (in broad terms)
* Confirmation of the expected feature changes (categories)
* An expected release date range
 
Thank you.
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It's not pointless to wanting to know if they'll actually be able to keep the quarterly updates going or not since staff leaving and getting laid off has repercussions which most likely will affect the game.
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How about we wait for drop 3 before we start speculating on drop 4...mmkay?
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Wanting to know if they will be able to keep quarterly updates rolling out is not pointless, no; it's actually understandable.  However, asking within a week of their staff reductions before they've had the opportunity to see exactly how it will affect their development cycle or to be able to properly judge the pace of progress in the studio - and expecting an answer - is rather unrealistic.  This is a question that we shouldn't expect them to be able to answer yet.  Possibly come January, once they've seen how this effects their progress on launching Drop 4 and so they can take that information and look at where they're at going forward to Drop 5.  But without any development time to judge by?  No.
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This ^
 
Good grief will you stop the hyper bole doom train about Drop 4 until at least Drop 3 hits? Some people lol
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beign that carbine is no different than any company- at times like these what they've gone through- i wouldn't expect an immediate turn around-let alone content updates= yes alot of QA, but not much new content.
 
perhaps until the game model is evaluated and restructured. - just like any other company going through its lows.
 
beign itll be late november for drop3, and dec is holiday season(and yeas carbine are humans too) expect some game changing news in the new year.	
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			I thought drop 3 and 4 were put together so it goes drop 3 - drop 5?	
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I thought drop 3 and 4 were put together so it goes drop 3 - drop 5?
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The original drop content was combined, but the nomenclature left the same. E.g. Drop 3 was formerly drop 3 + 4, therefore Drop 4 was formerly drop 5 + 6. 
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Drop 3 status update = "Unicorn"
Drop 4 status update = "Loch ness monster"
 
I won't believe either till I see it with my own eyes, no matter how many people believe.	
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Drop 3 status update = "Unicorn"
Drop 4 status update = "Loch ness monster"
 
I won't believe either till I see it with my own eyes, no matter how many people believe.
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Drop 3 status update = "Unicorn"
Drop 4 status update = "Loch ness monster"
 
I won't believe either till I see it with my own eyes, no matter how many people believe.
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Joke's on you, unicorns are real. 
 
We just think it has to be a horse.
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			The Loch Ness Monster will only show up if it needs tree fiddy...	
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The Loch Ness Monster will only show up if it needs tree fiddy...
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When NCSoft bought City of Heroes from Cryptic and created Paragon Studios, we players were told the staff had been down to about 16-30 people, which was shocking because they'd been putting out 3 of the best updates the game ever saw, and they did it on time.
 
The kind of cutbacks at Carbine weren't that bad, and the quarterly schedule won't be a problem.
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beign that carbine is no different than any company- at times like these what they've gone through- i wouldn't expect an immediate turn around-let alone content updates= yes alot of QA, but not much new content.
 
perhaps until the game model is evaluated and restructured. - just like any other company going through its lows.
 
beign itll be late november for drop3, and dec is holiday season(and yeas carbine are humans too) expect some game changing news in the new year.
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What I'd like is a clearly and prominently posted path for these patches noting the estimated month and the key things that the patch will contain (info graphics are nice), not tidbits pulled out or inferred from interviews that may or may not still hold true.  Probably will never get this type of clear concise document publicly because it would set expectations that likely can't be met.
 
I should add that that's OK and expected.  I don't think Carbine wants to give themselves just enough rope to hang themselves with.	
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			Been stocking up on mats for weeks. Prices are climbing nicely :D	
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First they have given info on drop 4 and its timeframe.
 
If it changes im sure they will let you know.
 
Second they aren't going to give you a time frame no matter what you say or do.  We are very close to drop 3 and they still haven't "officially" said xx date.  You are smoking crack if you think they will give a date for drop 4 when its so far out lol.
 
I am sure once drop 3 is out and successful they will start giving updates on drop 4 progress just like they have done with drop 3.  While in your eyes drop 3 is coming and now your moving on to drop 4.... well until its out and running smoothly their focus is still drop 3.  Use some sense.	
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After Drop 3 releases, we will be going into further detail about changes coming (in later patches) that should help this specific issue including Daily Dungeons, Random Queue rewards, Veteran Dungeon reitemization plan, and the new Glory currency. 
The short version is: We originally rewarded all Veteran Dungeons and Adventures equally. But they certainly don't have equal difficulty levels (Veteran Skullcano) or completion times (Veteran Swordmaiden). And we are working on adjusting to compensate for those differences and other itemization holes in that content tier.
-J-Tal
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			We try and direct Carbine's shots on target, but they insist on shooting themselves in the foot. Drop 3 should make me enough plat to CREDDscribe for a few months, so I'm over caring what they do between now and about March. There's an expansion coming out in another game that will tide me over for long enough.	
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Some of the devs have commented on various elements that may make it into the next drop, but 3 months is a fairly long time and as we said back in the State of the Game we want to ensure the content is up to a particular standard. So be aware things can change.
 
At this point, I don't think we can give a comprehensive, complete list of everything going into the next patch (the one *after* Mystery of the Genesis Prime) but my understanding is that we are still planning on the "every three months" schedule from Mike & Chad. So, the next quarterly patch (stop calling it Drop 4! :P) should be hitting early in Q1 of 2015 BUT that is subject to the "when it's ready" clause. :P
 
We've just given out the dates for Mystery of the Genesis Prime (MoTGP) patch so let's get that one done and then we can start talking a bit more about what's coming next year. ;)	
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Some of the devs have commented on various elements that may make it into the next drop, but 3 months is a fairly long time and as we said back in the State of the Game we want to ensure the content is up to a particular standard. So be aware things can change.
 
At this point, I don't think we can give a comprehensive, complete list of everything going into the next patch (the one *after* Mystery of the Genesis Prime) but my understanding is that we are still planning on the "every three months" schedule from Mike & Chad. So, the next quarterly patch (stop calling it Drop 4! :P) should be hitting early in Q1 of 2015 BUT that is subject to the "when it's ready" clause. :P
 
We've just given out the dates for Mystery of the Genesis Prime (MoTGP) patch so let's get that one done and then we can start talking a bit more about what's coming next year. ;)
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I think the issue is that a lot of the really exciting stuff has been said to be moved to the Q1 patch (like ITEMIZATION!!!!!) Those of us waiting for that are kinda beyond excited for it to happen. Personally, the thought of Vet Shiphands also makes me squee hard! I love shiphands so much while leveling! Plus the other QOL stuff like dungeon dailies, and gear on the vendors, etc. Just...yea...it's a lot of things that I think will make being level 50 and playing elder game content way more fun (and rewarding).
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			MOTGP will probably be pretty good, but I'm more of a fan of NKOTB.	
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