To be honest a very valid point, I can get where I am like "ooo this would be nice" and keep doing that over and over, some stuff would be nice but none of it necessary.
The main 'priority' things that are left are:
>Implement the remaining parts of the GUI (Main Diag / NPC Diag and Quest Diag) - not sure on time-frame as IDK how long it will take me but shouldn't be too long.
>Finish off the remaining parts of the Craft Inventory I have added
>Fix some more spawn errors (1 hour tops)
>Cull down the client size (remove a lot of the currently, unused bloat)
>Add in Glacial Valley (5 mins) / (30 mins for NPC etc)
>Some Final testing (such as making sure map movements work after changes etc) - a good few hours work
>Add in more and test Challenge quest chain (couple hours)
+ whatever Premus wants to do prior to launch
Things I now realize I probably should just do 'post' launch.
>Implement the new spells in game (they aren't low level and can wait for patches)
>Add in content for the planned patches
All in all, a couple of days good graft I could probably be done to be honest
Thanks, that seems fairly reasonable. Don't worry too much about client size, just release it onto the patcher a day or two before release and we'll not care much about size. You can always reduce it post release so future players don't need to download as much.
Remember some final testing can be done by us if it's not vital to launch. Better to harness 100s of players testing than trying to do it all yourself. As long as the low level stuff works it doesn't matter too much, high levels tend to be invested enough into the game that a map transition not working right isn't going to make them quit. You just need to make sure they are actively reporting them bugs.
RE: glacial valley, is it something than needs to be in at launch? Or can you not build up some hype about it post launch, when the player base is near the level that it's made for. Yes it would be quick to add now, but releasing it at launch when no one can use it created no momentum. Releasing it when people can actually be excited about it adds hype. Creating a flow of content. Again, take WoW for example, they often have more content to games than they release at patch launch because it just gets lost in the background noise of general hype. Trickle feeding content keeps gamers playing longer because they have an actual reason to return.