Work In Progress Mid-Year Development Update: Announcing Large Content Releases, Open Episodes, and Summer Plans

100%. Progression is the core issue here, not when content gets released. Come on folks, think about the bigger picture.

NO

The point behind creating something like SP that require do achieve certain feats to acquire is to create a timesink to keep players with LOTS of free time busy.

The point is NOT to have them SP being "highly valuable".

The "highly valuable" part is wishfull thinking from people who did spend time hunting for them feats for SP.

Thank you! I know the content gap may be difficult for some, but as a player that remembers the anticipation and build up to the next DLC...I love this!!

And a BIG THANK YOU!! What a difference one hex code can make!

I understand, but still

As someone who still frequents CO, this has Mr. Emmert written all over it and I'm happy to see it being added.

Thank you Mepps for the detailed update!! Thank you SJ and team for renewing a long time players faith!! I'm looking forward to a bunch of this!

Keeping people busy? Isnt that what all your videos are for? Lol.

Confirmed!! Monthly booster bundles until Dec! lol

YOU'RE going to lose a lot of money with this quarterly thingy.Most of the players will complete when the contents in the first month and cancel their subs till next episode drops.It will also decrease the population of the game.All of this is a bad idea

As Ares says:"this could be ..Interesting"
I had hoped the style unlocking would come this year though since styles is the most important thing for my part.

ok i wanted to sleep over the news before i write my thoughts here, cuz i know ppl take stuff in and act on emotion.
that said here is what i think overall.

Large Content Releases
i like the direction they are going with this.
i know they are aware of the huge gap with no pve content, and that is what most ppl see as a problem. i still prefer it to be that way, so we aren't forced to sub to keep our progression up. it also gives me hope that the next update and content will be high quality since it wont be rushed. they should know though that if they dont deliver what they promised this time, and if the content will be easy and simple, with reskined maps and re-used bosses, mechanics that focus on counters with no new inovation to it, ppl will not be pleased.
Alternative Character Progression
everyone is exicted about this, but at the same time in doubt, cuz we haven't been given any info on what it actualy may look like. for all we know it might be another crafting concept that wont be accepted by the comunity if not designed well, wich could happen again if there is no quality feedback from the ppl that actualy play the game and understand it. they should provide some info on this topic.
skill points would need a rewamp imo at this point, cuz with the curent gear and mods you get like 5% incresed stats only with max sp, when it should be 15-20% minimum.
League Tools
put all ammenities available to league hall with custom placement. someone mentioned league alliances (wich i think it could be a good idea). some tweeks to curent league ui and it's funcionality (make show online players only the default). league msg boards, where ppl could leave a msg they want whole league to see. (similar to log, but it would record text msgs)
this should require a new thread in dev discussion to get all the ideas in, and then make clear what can be done.
Announcing New Initiatives
all great news imo, but something that should have been done years ago, since i dont think it will have big impact on the game at this time.
Announcing Open Episodes This Summer
great idea when talking about free to play or premium players, also something that should have been done years ago. there was pretty much no promotions like this in the past.
as for the members, considering the gap with no content, imo members should have no locks at all or have all content reset daily (including raids, elite alerts and sms) in this event.
also talking about members, you should realy add more benefits to beeing a member, via higher lockbox drop rates, seprate rnd boxes from instances, added recovery kits etc...membership perks havent been changed at all since forever while new stuff has been added to the game that impact your progression in a way that you have to spend money on it.

Water Powers
while everyone is upset we arent getting the power this year prob, you could cut us some slack and show us that you are serious about relesing this power in the future. leak some art work and designs. untill you do that i still wont belive this power is comming out anytime soon. and while at it, think about another new power or weapon that you could start working on after water.

overall impression: i like the news, hope the stats matter wont break the powers via balance. big hope they deliver this time. cuz they are making a big gamble with this. it's either make or brake.
most of us will be taking breaks during down time, hope to see u guys on ep27 and let's hope it's gonna be awesome.

i will stick around for ep26, sm and pvp update, after that ill be on the forums only and pay close attention when some of this is beeing relesed on test.

It all looks interesting, seems like I will not be deleting all my chars when STO hits and I will be back to check out the 'improvements' to DC next year after all, just hope all these plans actually happen unlike so many others.

You only have to re-mod specific gear each month. All you are doing is modding the whole set in steps vs modding it all in a month period as people were before. People act like they are getting a whole new set of gear to mod each month now or something.

Thank God all the "no"s in the thread mean nothing to the grand scheme of things. Unless I missed something, there has been no comment that we were going back to that old boring 3 month cycle. I'm glad it is staying the way it is.

You missed something:

We aren't going back to scheduled 3 month releases but we are going back to spread out large content releases.

I'm happy about the break between Ep. 26 & 27. New PVP Season and doing some LPVE again will be fun. Maybe I will even gather the remaining 1900+ exo nodes I still need for the 25k Feat.

There is still much someone can do in DC even at Endgame stage, grinding Feats are always here to keep you occupied.

They may need to have more and improved content much more than they ever had before. It should last as long as the wait for it and the fun factor should justify it as well. If not, then as you say, history "will" be repeated.

Note: They could make a new system that eases the wait for new content. Survival Mode and Legends PVE mode was two such attempts. Though I prefer their next attempt to lie within the open world(s).

I suppose worst case scenario is that most take a break and then can't bother returning because found something better.
Either way, interesting times ahead.

No.

And all of this depends on the quality and substance of the new content. You never know what type of raids or new mechanics they will decide to bring in. If the content is fun and rewarding and at the same time difficult to complete, then I can see it lasting 3 months. Of course you can't forget that game updates also bring in new content/features. If the developers are finally trying to get a hold on things, they will listen to the majority and give us what we need to last.

With all of these word wall posts in the forums have ANY of you thought about how much sleep and time with their families the primary devs team lose
Because of the highly demanding release schedule. You need to stop being selfish and put yourself in the devs shoes.

Now for those who aren't complaining YET lol, haste makes waste. A job done slowly but right is better than a completed job done horribly.

ESO Xbox is a good example of a good job done slowly.