In a large update to Darkfall's Official Blog, Tasos Flabouras broke the news that launch will be missed tomorrow and instead all pre-orders will be given access to the beta phase, with launch somewhere soon around the corner. From the official blog:

 

• We’re launching a fully playable beta version of the game as soon as we get the build ready. We have a firm ETA for Monday,December 17th. By beta version we mean the game will be running in debug mode so that we can quickly get valuable feedback from playtesting and we can identify and address issues as quickly as possible.

• Pre-orders get beta access; we’re making pre-orders available on Friday so you can download the game over the weekend.

• Some details regarding the pre-order: returning Darkfall players will get the game at the price of the subscription during pre-order. New players will get the game at a discount. Pre-orders get 30 days of game-time when the game launches, beta access for as long as that is live, plus you can reserve your character’s name. We will also explore offering a head start.  Pre-order slots may be limited and will be throttled if needed.

• We can focus on playing and working with you to identify any bugs and imbalances and will continue working closely with our players to improve the game so that by the time the game launches it will be as perfect as possible. There will be developer – player interaction on issues that come up, and we want to keep developing a user-centric culture throughout the lifecycle of Darkfall Unholy Wars.

• We will also be working round the clock on getting the game ready for a Steam launch with all the Steam features we want integrated.

• The Darkfall Unholy Wars launch should happen as soon as we’re cleared to do a Steam launch, we assume that the game will be properly tested by then as well. Our estimate is January after the holidays. We will announce a specific launch date as soon as possible. We need to estimate the exact time it takes to integrate all the Steam features, and to assess what feedback we get from our playtesters.

Guess we'll see how the beta pans out, and then look forward to launch. Are you dismayed by this news, surprised, looking forward to the testing? Let us know!

Read the rest of Tasos' post over on the Darkfall Blog.

 Bill will MMORPG.COM be removing DFUW from the 2012 awards voting seeing as how it won't be released till 2013? Could of course still be most aticipated, but GOTY when it won't even be released this year seems silly

  Oh and since we saw the exact same stuff with Df 1.0 maybe next time MMORPG.COM does a interview with Tasos for any Av game you could ask a tough question like with one missed release already and a second release on the way if they actually have a playable build yet. As you can see from their anouncement they don't even have a playable build yet to beta.

What I don't understand is all the people complaining about it not being launched and claiming that you have to pay to play beta.  When you think about it it says pre-orders get beta plus 30 days of game time when it goes live.  So you will be playing for free for a game you were already going to purchase and then when it eventually comes out you're good to go anyway.  

Before anyone calls me a fanboy I never played the first one and I started following this one about 2 weeks ago

Originally posted by winter

 Bill will MMORPG.COM be removing DFUW from the 2012 awards voting seeing as how it won't be released till 2013? Could of course still be most aticipated, but GOTY when it won't even be released this year seems silly

  Oh and since we saw the exact same stuff with Df 1.0 maybe next time MMORPG.COM does a interview with Tasos for any Av game you could ask a tough question like with one missed release already and a second release on the way if they actually have a playable build yet. As you can see from their anouncement they don't even have a playable build yet to beta.

It's not up for GotY, but we removed it from Most Innovative.

Originally posted by BillMurphy

Originally posted by winter

 Bill will MMORPG.COM be removing DFUW from the 2012 awards voting seeing as how it won't be released till 2013? Could of course still be most aticipated, but GOTY when it won't even be released this year seems silly

  Oh and since we saw the exact same stuff with Df 1.0 maybe next time MMORPG.COM does a interview with Tasos for any Av game you could ask a tough question like with one missed release already and a second release on the way if they actually have a playable build yet. As you can see from their anouncement they don't even have a playable build yet to beta.

It's not up for GotY, but we removed it from Most Innovative.

Just curious. Will we be able to revote?  

This guys are a joke.

I have no respect for this guys.

Such a great game but such a bad managment.

There is no way i will spend a dime on this game till it releases for more than few months.

Tasos words = Useless Junk.

imo, its a standard practice to beta a new product, a step in the right direction and why rush the release therefore destroying the brand name.

just saying...

So they wait until the day before "launch" to tell people about a delay, and then announce a Beta soon to start.

They dont even have a Beta build ready?? And say this was a last minute decision?? How in the hell could this be a last minute decision when beta build is not ready??

This is laughable, but not a suprise.

Originally posted by Ackbar
these guys seem to break every deadline they make. 

This is not suprising, we all know the greeks only work a few days a week and take long ass vacations, just sayin ;p