Right, so I just went the idling way against all reason and it seems to have worked fine (to my great surprise). I have another question, though.
I know that the Slash and #Reload stages can only be time-released after all EX, Shadow and Gold characters have been unlocked, but the many sites I went through are full of copypasted info that's either horrendously unclear or outright false. Do the stages use the same 48-hour count as the EX characters (i.e. Slash stages will start popping up as soon as the last EX char is unlocked) or will the timer "reset" at the last EX character (i.e. 48 more hours to wait) ?
EDIT: Okay, I got all EX's and part of my answer. After some checks it turns out it's now the Shadow and Gold chars' turns to be released (both at the same time; I'm at Chipp, two hours in) and my question still stands: once S/G Order-Sol is unlocked, will I have to wait one hour or forty-eight for the first Slash stage to pop up?
EDIT²: I got my answer! :grin: It's one hour. Putting that out there for those who wondered the same thing.