"If we had tried to force the game out in the 2nd Quarter, as we had originally planned to release it," said Jacobs. "We could have but it would have meant pretty much no time for polishing the game. The decision was to continue to iterate and reserve polish time."

The main area that requires further attention, according to Jacobs, is class balance. He explained how the classes of Warhammer Online do not necessarily fall into specific boxes as they do in many MMOs. Most classes are multi-faceted hybrids of several traditional RPG classes and this means they need to rethink some of the conventions of MMO balance. "If you don't release it right from the beginning with classes at least pretty much balanced, where they're all fun, you're not going to be in good shape in an [Realm vs. Realm] game."

Realm vs. Realm (RvR) is the other reason that this process is so vital. WAR is competitive and players won't have fun unless they're on a even playing field. With their experience in Dark Age of Camelot, the only other major RvR game - a term they have literally trademarked - they of all people should be aware of the precarious nature of competitive MMO balance.

Jacobs insists that the delay is purely about polish, balance and fun and not stability. He admits the game's client could be more stable and is - as yet - not heavily optimized. However, he believes that the core servers behind the game are definitely well on their way.

"It's not as stable as Camelot it is, but it isn't that far behind," he said.