AN ETA on a Functioning game?

[inrainbows]

That has absolutely no relation with releasing a game right *after* beta. Which is what basically everyone does.

Advocating that there will (or should) be any sizable amount of time between the end of the open beta and release doesn't hold a shred of logic.

Yes it does. There is this thing called marketing. They will need a specific date to launch the game so the marketing can be effective. My point is if this is decided before beta ends that is a bad idea. (unless phase 4 is essentially a glorified demo)

And plenty of games have a reasonable time between beta and release. Guild Wars 2 beta finished July 22nd and the game launched August 28th.