I can’t really find any info in the different announcement posts, except that 1.3 was moved to Q1 2025, which usually implies February or March (cause they would say January if they meant January).
Does that mean once this event ends, everyone moves to Legacy and things will go dormant for 4-5 months until the next cycle? I thought once the game officially launched we would see regular updates. Was the trigger pulled too soon to leave Beta?
Only the event modifiers and imperial packs will be removed, the refresh cycle will continue till 1.2 drops. At least that was their plan.
From a technical perspective, I think they should have invested a bit more time exclusively for polish/optimization. Not content, like many people ask.
Financially, they might have been in a situation where it was ‘release or pull the plug. Without the funds from a release, we go broke before we can deliver the polished version.’
Hard to tell without inside knowledge of everything involved. Finances, contractual obligations, etc…
The next Cycle will be 1.2 with some stuff originally planned for 1.3 tacked onto it. So my hopeful assumption is that it will be a very large Cycle. Unfortunately development has been very slow. Even if 1.2 is released with two Cycles worth of content, the time it will take to get there is longer than two regular seasons. Which I thought they were aiming for 3-4 month Cycles pre-launch (hopeful that once they get things moving it will be that way, but I’m also not delusional).
It’s likely, but it could also just mean that they’re not sure when they can get it all done yet. So it could still be in January, though I agree that March would be more likely, since they’re making the content for 2 patches in a single one.
No. All the event ending will do is that loyalist packs won’t appear anymore and the event buffs will be gone as well. Everything else stays as it is.
cycle stays cycle until the next cycle 
I hope there is an cycle dungeon and emperor boss to kill.
If it is so - better to have in mind one more event (or even refresh) in between 1.1.7 - 1.2
4m is too long for this mini cycle
yeah playing without the favor bonus etc from October 20th to say March is going to feel bad after such a good event
Another thing that happens, you get some kind of participation award. A cosmetic item most likely.