CoT has done precisely what it set out to do, build an MMO. No matter how much money is sunk, MMO's take time to develop. While CoT has taken longer than any of us, especially those of us working on it, have wanted, that time would have been needed regardless.
The other thing CoT has done is altered at which stage of development will be released, based on player feedback. When we showed early stage work, the fans simply were vicious in ripping apart greybox material. As a result, the early access plan had to be abandoned. Simply put, had the server with an Alpha gone live at the end of 2015, everyone would have taken it as the final product, rather than a greybox. Look at all the guff Camelot Unchained and Shroud of the Avatar have gotten for their Alpha builds. So now, access will be when it is closer to completion, because that's what the players want. They don't want a playable game with greybox graphics and a stand in player model, they want a finished product and will not accept anything less.
