/jp/ - Otaku Culture

Hey there /jp/, I just finished marathoning through EP 1 of umineko, and I have a few questions for you guys.

1) How many EPs and arcs are there going to be? Is there a definite time schedule?

2) While I was reading the wiki site, it mentions that there's an answer arc (The Umineko no Naku Koro ni Chiru/うみねこのなく頃に散). Is this included in EP4? Has it even been released yet?

3) How much time did it take you to read up to EP 4? I was originally going to run through the entire thing within one day so I could watch the anime without getting spoiled, but the pacing was pretty slow at times to keep me glued to the screen.