Modern free-to-play games have a tendency to get stuck in ridiculously long beta periods. I can’t even count how many MMOs I've played for months at a time entirely within the nebulous “open beta” period. On March 25th, SMITE, a MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) from Hi-Rez Studios will finally step out of beta and join the rest of the industry in the light of release.

I have been playing SMITE for months now, so this announcement raises a lot of questions. What is going to change with the game on release? We already know that all character data will persist, but what changes will be made to differentiate the game from beta?

Why release the game now? Is there some special reason, or is this just how the timing worked out?