Why'd they wait so long to start developing DA4?

Why do people keep thinking that Hawke was meant to be the star of Inquisition? Cassandra might have maintained that is why they were looking for Hawke in DAI but the end of DA2 makes it quite clear that both Hawke and the Warden are missing and Leliana implies there is some sort of sinister connection between the two. Cassandra's assertion in DAI was just a rather poor attempt to cover up the lack of continuity with the end of DA2.

That is the real problem. Originally there was meant to be a DLC called Exalted March which tied off the Hawke story and to some extent the mage/Templar conflict. Then because of the poor reception for DA2, that got cancelled and as a consequence the mage/Templar conflict carried over into the beginning of Inquisition. In the interim the novel Asunder was released which shifted the responsibility for causing the conflict from Anders/Hawke to the events at the White Spire, with Fiona suddenly assuming the role of Grand Enchanter (which made no sense to me whatsoever).

There was contradictory information about Fiona's reasons for leaving the Wardens as well. In Asunder she claimed she deliberately left and returned to the Circle system with a view to causing trouble. In Inquisition she maintained she left the Wardens because they were being mean to her.

What I do feel is that Hawke's contact was originally meant to be the Hero of Ferelden, which would then have tied in with the declaration by Leliana at the end of DA2. As it was, we had the rather odd idea of the Warden suddenly heading off into the West on some wild goose chase looking for a cure for the taint, whilst it would seem that Leliana knew where they were all the time, so making a nonsense of the end of DA2. Not only that but if you romanced Leliana then at the end of Trespasser the Warden is back with her, without any indication of whether their mission was successful or not. If you romanced Morrigan then she said she was going to join him but if you romanced Alistair or Zevran then presumably their Warden is still somewhere out west.

What I would like to see in the next game is some proper tying off of various plotlines that were left hanging. The Warden searching for a cure was one, the other was the alleged trouble at Weishauppt, which seemed sinister at the end of DAI, but was largely ignored in Trespasser, with just some cryptic comment from Varric, and also entirely disproved by the events in the novel The Last Flight.

*snip* 

Main thing is because Hawke's existence only makes sense if they were intending for the character to be a reoccurring protagonist for multiple games. Only reason you make a character like that - set name, set race, easily categorized personality choices, a default look made to be iconic rather than generic, is so that they can come back. They needed a Shepard and they came up with Hawke.

*snip* 

Thanks for the info

So yeah, it looks like the only thing left is the follow up to DAI.

I have to wonder if (to hold starving fans over - and make some money if they may not repeat history, make a bridge game like DA2 that sets things up and ties off last bit of unfinished business with Solas, launching us properly into the next title without any baggage.

I would love a well done bridge title that would retail at 39.95 and be smaller than DAI, more like Awakening expansion to get things moving. Would anyone else want this, so the 3 years until DA4 would not be as painful?

DAI was in 2014. MEA was released this year. You may not like those, but those were 'epic single player stories' by all accounts.

(oh, plus HZD, Nier:Automata and so on, from other game developers)

None of those games fall into that category... for you. And it's hard to expect game developers to follow your personal criteria.

How do we know the game isn't in development right now and they're just keeping quiet about it?

... Because Anthem?

Also, it's not like they're keeping totally quiet. Considering that details (duh, not even details but very vague stuff aside from its codename) for Antheam leaked very shortly before the game's E3 reveal and that they achieved similar thing for MEA, we do know that Bioware can keep a secret. And DA devs keep winking at us so hard and fast, you'd think that their eyelids would just detach and flutter away like hummingbirds. All we lack is official announcement, really.

How do we know the game isn't in development right now and they're just keeping quiet about it?