It's all well and good to let people know what's coming. But one must be careful about setting expectations.

On the Blogs we were told a new EULA would go into effect last Monday. It did not. We've been told that the reason was it was being vetted (and probably edited) by a lawyer. GOOD! But it would have been better to not set the expectation of "Monday" and instead say "as soon as our lawyer is finished with it."

At the same time we were told about a ban on automata petting. Also, GOOD! But it implication (and reasonable expectation) is it goes hand-in-hand with the new EULA.

In another Blog post we were told to expect "Stones" "this week." Now, when a "week" ends might be open to discussion. But its beginning to be past "a week" and no Stones. People are beginning, reasonably, to worry that they have missed the delivery.

The Dryads were promised for "midnight" and it was nearly a day later before they went on sale.

I'm sure there are other examples which could be cited, but these are enough.

I suggest that more care be taken in setting expectations. "Soon" won't cut it, it's too vague. But "within the next N days/weeks" might work.

In addition, once an expectation has been set, especially if it's a hard date/time, followups as the schedule changes would be A Good Thing. We all know problems arise, schedules shift, Shit Happens. But once set, it's best to get out and adjust expectations beforehand when they do.