They already said it’s not being developed… and they also said any announcement would crash the market, so they do not plan to give players a “heads-up” – therefore it will more than likely be a “surprise, legendary precursor hunt introduced” on the day of a patch scenario.
Just like how they jumped the gun a week before the march update to announce the nerfing of world chests, knowing that it would influence ecto prices substantially (26s to 33s in a matter of hours). In this case, they couldn’t just wait for the “surprise” patch to kick in.
Everything Anet does that relates to the TP is deliberate. even waiting and withholding information is deliberate. It’s their only source of income now (long-term). Similar to Blizzard’s constant monitoring of Diablo 3’s auction house.