Found this recent quote by Kilsin over on the Pantheon boards interesting...
"Alpha should be next year sometime but we don't have any more accurate info than that, it all depends on how these pre-alphas go and what hurdles we may hit during development/test. Once we get into the new year we will have a better understanding, but again, we will announce it once it is getting close to make sure no one misses out and everyone can plan ahead for it."
Seems pretty obvious this game is taking way longer to develop then originally thought. Although I guess that's pretty standard. Sounds like there are still multiple phases of pre-alpha to go. Many people were speculating that this upcoming pre-alpha phase (whatever the hell number that is) would be the last. Not sounding like that to me. Doesn't sound like they are even willing to commit to Alpha next year at this point, let alone "early" next year. Beta and launch seem pretty far away to me. 2022 launch, maybe? Is it just me, or does that seem like an insane development time?
Alpha will start once the first continent, Kingsreach, is finished, along with all classes implemented, and all abilities/spells implemented up to level 40. This next phase, slated to start this fall, Pre Alpha 4, should have all classes implemented and all abilities/skills up to level 40. That's what they've been working on the majority of this year, the classes and the abilities. Once they get that squared away, they said they will start focusing on world building and churning out the zones. They just hired or are in the process of hiring four new artists and animators for this purpose.
This game was scrapped from the Kickstarter, as in absolutely dead. One of the programmers that rejoined the team last year said as much in an interview. They scrapped the original game, minus some lore aspects, and completely rebuilt everything. It's only been in development about 2-3 years. Shortly after Chris Perkins took over is when the project was brought back to life.
As of right now, some classes are in excellent shape, the Dire Lord, Enchanter, Rogue, and Shaman specifically. The other classes are in various stages of being refined and the hope is will be in great shape this coming Pre-Alpha with all the class and ability changes. The Summoner and Druid will have their reveal this next Pre-Alpha, so it may be a bit until they are squared away. Maybe they've been working on the Bard and Necro secretly as well, but nobody is expecting them anytime soon. Harvesting also gets its first look in PA4.
My guess would be Alpha in Summer of 2019. Release late 2020 or sometime in 2021. A lot depends on how fast they move once they focus all their attention on world building. Theoretically, it should go pretty quick. They are molasses slow and overly detailed though, but if it gets done correctly, I guess it's worth it.
The big news as of late is that the game has seen significant investment, at least enough to secure Series B funding, and is now only supplementarily crowd funded. It hasn't been revealed how much or who the big investors are.
