This seems to be a minority opinion, but I don't really think Eva is as burned out/ready for ORS to end as much as most people here do. Agreed, I can't see her stretching out the game for another 4-5 years, but my take is that 2024 has been Eva getting a second wind and releasing what I'd call a significant amount of content that both moved the story forward in big ways (the trinity, the first MMA fight, IanxCindy becoming an affair not just a fling, etc.) as well as expanding options for future development (Seymour taking an interest in Ian, an IanxEmma route, an IanxLouise route (?!), Lena getting caught up in Axel's domination again, etc.).
It doesn't have to be that all these expanded things need long, highly developed arcs. People here loved the introduction of Eli, for example, because she was a fresh face and it was interesting to think about Lena seducing a girl outside the Ivy/Holly orbit she's been in most of the story so far. I'm excited too - Eli could be a great booty call for Lena sporadically through the remainder of the story without the need to figure out Eli's past, incorporate her into the wider friend group, etc. Frankly the same thing could happen with Ian and Cherry - or Ian and Louise - and I think most folks here would be fine with that. Or Lena with Jeremy, or Mark, or Marcel... there can be fun scenes without intricate storylines to go along with them. We all love to knock on Robert, but bringing him in again just so Ivy and Lena can get Slutty Holly to sleep with him and that's it, was brilliant.
There's already plenty of intricate storylines to follow through to completion, and whether it's going to be 16 or 20 chapters doesn't matter much, imo, because Eva has been packing so much content into each of the past few chapters. I think there's going to be a lot more coming in the next year, and at a faster pace also because the "new" development schedule of prologue, POV 1, POV 2, epilogue - whether we love it or hate it - seems to be working for Eva pretty well, and whatever works for Eva is what will move the game forward for all of us.
If you want, you can accuse me of being optimistic, and that's fine. Frankly,
someone needs to be optimistic around here.