This means they rushed the game onto the market 4 months earlier than they should have! A similar situation almost happened with the 5 Heroes, when the release was inexplicably scheduled for March, even though the game was very unfinished at the time. And, as you know, it was only the Heroes community that demanded the release be postponed to a later date and in a more polished state. My point is that companies, when releasing games to the market for profit in a specific quarter, don't think about their quality, because they can always release patches for the games later! That's what happened back in 2002. The game was simply thrown out there in an attempt to get at least some money for their own demise... however sad that may sound.
The only difference is that it's too late to radically change the game, and it's not even necessary, because the 5th installment is very good (perhaps even excellent)... but if there had been such a forum back in 2001, the 4th installment would have been even better.