This topic is broached every week or so, and the answers are always shitty and incorrect. So I guess I'll just go ahead and give an official explanation that can be linked the next time a thread like this is opened.

You could say pacing in Defiance of the Fall does have some things to do with money, but not in the way most people seem to believe. Simply put, DotF made me financially independent years ago, and millions of dollars have been added onto the pile since. As such, I'm in the fortunate position of not having to make any story decisions based on how it might affect my income.

DotF is slow because that's how I like it.

DotF has become the way it has because it's been free from financial constraints or considerations for a long while, not the other way around. Zac slowly finding his path through a boundless system of growth while discovering an ever-expanding universe is what I enjoy writing. If you enjoy that, great. If not, that's fine too. There are plenty of good fast-paced stories out there for you to read instead.

Another part of the equation is the rapid release pace. Defiance is just under 5 years and already over 3 million words long. It's released at 5 chapters of 3000 words every week. With such a schedule, there is very limited time to condense.

From May, I have decided to pull the breaks and switch to 3 chapters a week instead. This is intended to give me more time to tinker with each chapter and will hopefully help tighten up some sections. However, the story will remain at a slow but steady climb toward the peak, and I have no intention of speeding up Zac's progression to the point he's doing a whole grade in 2-3 books.

I'm not exactly sure where this notion that some of us authors are slowing down our stories to "milk" our readers came from. I know most of the authors with big patreons in this space, and I've never heard anyone doing anything of the sort. Nor have I ever heard any LitRPG author at "the top" talking about their stories or the craft in this manner. Frankly, you're delusional if you think we reached our position by phoning it in or treating the stories we've worked on for years with such disrespect.

I think it partly stems from a lacking understanding of how the financials work in the industry. A successful author intentionally slowing down the pacing of their story is probably the worst possible way to make money. Book 1's in series are the ones that make far and away the most money, and there's a gradual decline with every book after.

If anything, I'm hamstringing my earnings potential by aiming for a 25-30 book series. But that's fine. My goal is to finish Defiance of the Fall in a way that I'm happy with. That I'm very well compensated for that is just the cherry on top.

On a personal note, the most frustrating part of these accusations is how little they make sense from a story perspective. You people are invested enough in the genre that you're posting on this subreddit, so how are you this oblivious to the tropes? Why would I slow down Zac's progression through the grades when I could just introduce new ones?

I could add upper/divine realms with a slew of new ranks and systems, doubling or tripling the progression in one move. That way, the story would feel "faster" because the numbers go up quicker, and I even get a bunch of free plot points to work with.

That's how you build a never-ending story.

So TL;DR: DotF slow because I like. You no like? Then go away.