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Thanks for the update. 

I've got to get this off my chest.  I realize there maybe a negative undertone to that.  If you don't like that aspect of a forum post, please stop here.

The following is just my opinion, based on the frustration that I feel for having had to wait so long for leagues, and now realizing just how much longer I will have to wait.

I think that MTGO has stabilized, and some nice features have been added. And it sounds like there is some good stuff upcoming with the UI.  Currently, there is a healthy (maybe dangerous?) growth of users in the game.  Some people (maybe even WOTC people) have stated that it is their opinion that the growth seems to be based upon the Duels of the Planeswalker X-Box game and people trickling over to MTGO?  That's great.  Welcome new people!  However, what caused people to stop playing MTGO will likely strike the new people too.

And here is where I feel that WOTC needs to be sure they understand the big picture.  Are they servicing the needs of the existing money spending user base, or pandering to a new generation of "I want it all for free" users.  Seriously, MTGO costs money to play.  Its not a one time fee like DOTP.  If you cannot provide an economical value for $ in MTGO, new players will leave like the former.  Keeping the existing population satisfied is critical, growth is too if your ready for it.  Based on the delays for leagues, I personally have hit my limit.  Based on all the database inneficiencies that you've stated, I am a little fearful for you about continued growth.  TAKE AS LONG AS YOU NEED, but please get it right this time. 

Leagues were an amazing value for dollar way to play the game.  Both casual and hard core loved leagues.  Does anyone not like leagues?  Add to that the time arguement.  A fair number of MTGO players don't have 3-4 hours in a row to spend playing competitive tournaments(drafts, swiss, etc) and leagues were the perfect way to play a competitive meaningful game in a short period of time. 

So without leagues, a certain type of player loses interest.  I certainly have, and I realize that I'm only one type of user, but based on the volume of agreement in the forums, I hope that there are many types who stick it out with you until 2011 so there is a MTGO for me to come back to.

The Dev team is fully staffed.  Based on the time frames we are talking about (leagues - 2011), that is a contentious concept.  You mention user growth in a few areas.  It would be interesting to find out if the WOTC vision of how much it will grow could motivate the decision makers to provide for a bigger DEV team(s).  Of course, bigger does not mean quicker.  A large pregnant woman still delivers in 9 months (10 if your counting) and 9 moms in a room do not make it come faster.  You did mention that as you ramp up and add staff..... hopefully that does mean more as opposed to filling turnover.

The fact that leagues remain an  "unscheduled project" was the killer for me.  If its not scheduled, then its not a project. 

Thanks for all the great games, and hopefully leagues before 2011.

best post ever by gordon, although i believe things could have done faster

By the Gods just let the same people who made Duels of planeswalkers duel screen make the new client.  i want it should like that!

Thanks for this excellent update! I think the priorities and goals are well chosen, and the timeline seems realistic. I do software development myself, and I can confirm that the description of issues and technologies in this update seems to be honest, straightforward, and reasonable.

For those in the player community who think that doing software development is easy and that the wish-list of features should have been complete long ago, I'd refer you to a classic book on software engineering, "The Mythical Man Month" by Frederick Brooks. It's a classic that is pretty much required reading for any software project manager - I wonder if anyone at WOTC read it in 2003...but I digress. To summarize, software development is an inherently hard task and you often can't speed the process up, even if you spend more money on it! Brooks law, loosely stated, is that "adding more programmers to a late software project makes it later".

The very strict requirements for rules consistency, reliability, and security for MTGO make it a particularly challenging project, I'm sure. Best wishes to all the devs as they continue to move forward, and informative updates like this one are very appreciated.