G1: Adriana Soon™ & No Update Yet

G1-Raiden finally released a bit of information to Sword 2 community after some complaints in the forums. But of course, it still doesn't tell us much... You can discuss it at the forum topic here.

Image from Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate Episode 06

We will receive a patch to add Adriana into the DB by the end of this week. A release plan is being drawn out and she will be launched after we finish testing.

Meanwhile, IMC is making a new event for us which will take them a couple of weeks to develop. We are right now in the phase of discussing certain changes to the event based on the available technology. [Source]

F2P is not a charity either. Keep that in mind. The community (not just this) has some how come to believe that F2P publishers are running a charity.

You should also take out the feeling that we are trying to get you. What in the world can we get by destroying your dreams?? We are a business and we know that not releasing something will bring our profits down. So believe me when I tell you that we also want exactly what you want. Circumstances are unavoidable and if you don't like, I am sorry no amount of explanation will quench your thirst. [...]

We are not getting an expansion in a month or two.
We are not going to let this game die either.
We will continue doing the best we can with the kind of restrictions we have at this moment.
We will not force anything upon you.
I am also very occupied with all the things said above to be coming into the forum frequently and repeat all this all over again. [Source]

I assume by "Adriana" he meant Cadet Adriana, which was released in a free event for Singapore (July 2012) and Taiwan (April 2012) previously. Some players think it might be a cash-related event for Sword 2. Personally, I don't think so since the event was free for the other editions, but if it is true, it will really be so lame.

I think it is fairly safe to assume a free-to-play game is essentially pay-to-win. Still, there is such a thing as value-for-money. The common drops from those cash shop random boxes should be at least close to the worth/cost of the boxes themselves. Other than that, it is just a matter of balancing cash events and free events. I must say though that G1 is somewhat less money-grabbing than other GE publishers, but of course, they still want money...

On the next point... Yes, of course, G1 will not want to delay updates, if they can avoid it. So this basically means they couldn't avoid the delay, but why? That is the question. Is it because G1 couldn't meet the demands of IMC that's why the contract negotiation is taking so long? The problem couldn't be with IMC since other publishers like IAHGames also deal with IMC, but they never had this problem. And maybe G1 wants to cut cost somehow by skipping v9.5 patch?

So it seems the earliest we can expect a patch is December 2012 as some have already guessed. Will G1 really not "let this game die" if the player base keeps dropping? More and more people are quitting or at least taking a break from the game. I think a lot of in-game activities depend a lot on player habits. Once the habit is broken (due to taking a break), the motivation to come back gets lesser. So the longer the break a player takes, the less likely he will return to the game.

Most of the posts in the Ask the Producer topic are of no significance in any case. Asking for special content customized for Sword 2 is just too much, considering that G1 is still struggling to bring out the standard content. The really vital questions that were never answered are:

1. What exactly is the problem with the contract negotiation? 
2. When can the contract be finalized/confirmed?
3. When is the projected deadline for the next update?

If it is taking a few months just to answer these questions, then something is seriously wrong with the way they work. Like last week, some maps were closed after maintenance. Wasn't maintenance supposed to resolve issues like closed maps? This is kind of ironic.

Also, does anyone know what exactly is the relationship of Reloaded Games to G1? Were the two linked previously or only just recently?