WAR release date

I've read all of the news snippets in the last weeks: Paul Barnett saying that Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning is in principle ready to ship, and just being polished more. Various rumors of a WAR release date on September 23, with head-start access starting on September 18. And I can only advise you to stop hyperventilating. Yes, it is *possible* that WAR releases on September 23. But it is far from certain. Let's wait at least for the official release date announcement before asking your boss for a week off end of September. :)

I am strangely reluctant to play in the WAR beta. Not because I don't like the game. But for the same reasons that I don't want to do quests in Northrend in the WotLK beta: I want to keep all that new content for the release version. I played enough of WAR to know I like it, and I pre-ordered the collector's edition. I know what race / class I want to play first. But I don't want to spoil WAR for me by already playing that class and then getting bored by doing it again in the release version. And I'd rather play in the release version with my guild than in the beta alone. So although I already have access to the game, I can't wait for the release. I'm just not willing to get overly excited about a rumored release date now, just to get disappointed later. And because Mythic already has problems with having promised more than they could eventually deliver, they would be wise to only announce the release date when they are absolutely certain they can make it.

Where the 23rd September date is coming from? Here is one possible scenario:
Underpaid low-level grunt at some website needs to fill out a web form to create the product page for WAR. The web form has a field for release date. He asks his boss what the release date is. Boss replies "Fall 2008", which is the official version. Web form doesn't accept "Fall 2008" because some bloody programmer formatted the field to accept only dates. Grunt looks up "Fall" in the dictionary, and finds that the astronomical start of autumn is on 23 September. Thus he enters 23 September into the web form and pushes enter, not aware what a rumor mill he just started.