SNW: No More Lies

So, I went back to the forums again and went through 27 pages of mostly irrelevant stuffs just to get updated on the situation for SNW. I wish they would put all significant information in one website article or a no-discussion forum topic, instead of making people skim through the bloated topic.

Anyway, G1-Neume posted the following in the forums. Naturally, bold emphasis are mine. This first quote block is posted 29 June 2009.

We just got the content info for 3.4 and you guys are gonna flip when you see what we have in store. But first thing's first: 2.9 then 3.0. [Source] No where did I say 3.6 will come out next month. We're planning 3.4 for a Halloween release (at least preliminary planning suggests a Halloween launch THIS CAN AND POSSIBLY WILL CHANGE BETWEEN NOW AND THEN) and then 3.6 in Q1 '10 (MAYBE in Holiday but not likely). It's more likely we'll get a New World: Holiday patch for December and 3.6 in February/March. 2.9 is looking good for this month and 3.0 is looking good for August (early September... not sure yet). ALL DATES ARE TENTATIVE AND JUST ESTIMATES BASED ON WHERE WE ARE TODAY. THING CAN AND DO AND PROBABLY WILL CHANGE!!! [Source] There is a 3.2 however we're just getting one big patch to 3.4 since we should be able to QA it in about a month. The difference with 3.2 and 3.6 is 3.6 is still being built by imcGAMES while 3.1-3.4 are ready (and untranslated). 3.0 is translated. SO instead of waiting on 3.4 to be translated we're moving ahead with 3.0. By the time that is live we'll be translating 3.6 and testing 3.4. [Source]

Okay, so the next release after v3.0 will be v3.4, which will include everything from v3.1 to v3.4. The following quotes are posted on 30 June 2009.

P.S. It doesn't look like 2.9 will be this week. The fact of the matter is we can't test 3.0 until we get this 2.9 patch out the door. 3.0 has 20 pages of changes that need to be tested. It will take at LEAST 4 weeks to release it. SO if at the worst case scenario we release 2.9 the last week of July that means we won't be able to release 3.0 until the last week of August at the earliest. Usually it take about 4 weeks to translate and polish the game text and about 2 weeks to create the images and sound files for a new patch (3.4). imcGAMES then needs about 2-3 weeks to implement the changes and we need about four weeks to test everything which means that if we launch 3.0 at the end of August we should have 3.4 ready by Halloween. [Source] Selva is in 3.0. In the 2.9 patch there are new dungeons (2) a new raid (Secret Tower) and some new items as well as low level instances added. [Source]

Blah, blah, blah... so Selva is pushed back to v3.0, which is also what sGE did. Darn. I already finished Caebolan quests and got 2 Hero Seals in the vault, just waiting for her to show up. Anyway, for people who are wondering what to expect in v2.9b, see here. Oh well, some more quotes posted on 01 July 2009.

So I just confirmed we're not getting 3.6... We'll talk about why later (it's a good reason...). I will say with more confidence that 2.9 will be out this month (there are 4 issues currently that we're trying to fix). 3.0 late August early Sept (once 2.9 is out we can start testing). 3.4 in Oct (currently being translated). New World: Holiday in December (we're designing right now) and then something BIG in Q1 or Q2 '10. [Source] Currently we are 4 bugs away from 2.9. 1. The zone point for the Sewers is not appearing. 2. The zone point for the last level of the Secret Tower is not appearing. 3. The zone point for the Bahamar Ancient Dungeon is not appearing. 4. You cannot complete Claude's quest (and in turn) begin Claire's quests. So while it's a short list, there are some big issues. The last being the one I anticipate will take the longest to correct. I am hoping for a new patch tonight. [Source]

No v3.6? What the heck does it mean? Another big patch to include v3.5 to v3.8? Meh. I will edit this post again later, when he clarifies the statement. Okay, he means v3.4 is the last patch for 2009. The following is posted 02 July.

I know everyone assumes it's a bad reason but in reality it's not. 3.4 will be the last patch this year for all non-Korean versions. But what we are getting instead of 3.6 is big. [Source]

A player posted the above picture here. LOL. It's kinda funny in the context of the forum topic. Gosh, I still have the Iron Maiden CDs around somewhere...