Tom will have to answer about the launch date, but you can look at the Skills UI and see that you have some points already there. They have been accumulating too.
Well I don't happen to have any skill points at all, or have any accumulating, but I guess I'll just toss that up to having only created my account maybe 8 hours ago or so.
Also, I just thought about this, but how exactly will the story telling work? Will we be able to start ourselves in any of the three regions? (North, South, Colonies) or will we be stuck in one to begin with? Also, will we need to start a roleplay such as walkign into a village and attempting to do something, and then have a GM or other character follow up with what we find or whatever or do we do that ourselves? For instance, if I was seeking to find lost magical treasures some villagers might have and I ask around for them, would I just wait to have a GM pick up the NPC part and see how that goes or what?
Having never played a game like this I am unsure, even with the information provided.
