I think the plan is to have the online portal functional when they release the game, and many people speculate that the reason for the delays is that they are working out bugs or adding features to extend the functionality of the online system.
As for the rest of your post, I agree. I'm not the most patient person in the world, not by a long shot, but I'm willing to wait for this (it's only a little more than a month away. I'm sure I could fill the time somehow.). I'm also confident that I can prove the detractors wrong, the same why people prove that poker isn't totally reliant on luck: by being among the best and winning consistently. Nobody is so lucky that they keep winning over and over at something that is just a matter of good/bad luck; skill has to play a role somewhere.
In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni