Nod-Krai was a last-minute decision due to the backlash of Natlan

I don't see alot of people bring this up or talk about it but the moment you think about it, it finally starts making sense. Nod-Krai was a last-minute decision due to the backlash of Natlan:

I think (I'm 90/10 on this) that due to Natlan being rewritten (Natlan had alot of hints about what the nation would be like. They weren't well known but they were there. From the red haired Natlanian exiles to in-game Natlan lore to Benny and Mare Jivari, they were all there) in the last minute, it has drastically changed all the story routes for the future, but due to the backlash Natlan's story writing and everything about it got, they had to introduce a big "interlude" patch which'll last for atleast a year before we enter mainland Schneznaya, which'll also be more than enough time to carefully rewrite the new story, lore, charcters and everything the Natlan arc has given way for but in a much better direction

Yeah alot of the story is already written yrs ahead in-advance, but considering how Mihoyo damned their own carefully crafted lore and story, they're kind of in a clutch. As long as they can get Nod-Krai and Schneznaya up and running 1st, everything else will eventually come together.

Ask yourself this: Why an entirely new area, that takes as much precedence as a whole nation, suddenly popped up outta nowhere, when it was never given it's own highlight in the Travail trailer, right after how much Natlan bombed ?

Yeah Nod-Krai IS a part of Schneznaya, but they're marketing it more as it's own "sub-nation" within Schneznaya, with full creative control given to the Doc by Pierro or The Tsaritsa with all the funding he could get from'em to run Ham with experiments in a nation all to himself without having to worry about the law or anything else, which would also explain the nation's unlawful and corrupted nature based on what we've heard, as Dottore's the type to not care about any of that as long as he can do his experiments in peace.

Also, on a side note, before people say this, y'all need to realize that game devs can't and won't always stick to their schedules. Alot of things are planned in advance years ago but that doesn't means the devs would strictly follow through with them in the development process when the time comes. Alot of variables and unknown factors can happen and will happen in the way, and the devs need to be mentally and physically prepared to tackle them at all times. I think it's pretty safe to say that Mihoyo definitely didn't predicted or wanted Natlan to bomb as much as they did. No good business or company would want that. Game devs, especially live service game devs, need to be like water, not like rock. No good game company or business would've been able to last as long as they did if they couldn't adapt with the times and all the variables along the way.

I'll just close it off with this: Whether it be the waifu obsessions of Da Wei, some kinda big social experiment or anything else, Mihoyo has learnt by now that good world-building and plot is extremely important for selling characters in a gacha game (As we've already seen with tons of other gachas like Fate, Wuwa, Arknights, etc.) and after the abysmal revenue drops of Natlan, I think they'll learnt more than enough that the games they make now along with how much income they generate and everything else they put their money on cannot be supported by a vocal gooner minority. They need equally big games and ambitions to scale with the income they wanna make, and I guess a moment of hitting absolute rock bottom with their biased "Only waifus sell" mentality was needed so they learn from this and never repeat this mistake ever again.

Gooners come and go. Fans always stick around. Keep'em happy, they'll keep you happy. Disregard them, they'll disregard you, and as a company, you have more to lose than us, so it's always wise to reach a point where both you and the fans get what they want.