This is most likely correct. Due to the low player subscribe base it'd be hard to support a large group of coders each having a relatively large salary. They probably made some decisions to hopefully turn it into more profitable venture.
Yeah open beta will begin just shortly before the game goes gold. The only reason Blizzard would hold an open beta is to assess server stability, much like the recently launched Lineage 2. Anyone else that played during open beta of L2 would remembe…