Whoa, Its been 5 years since the beta? :O
Time goes by quickly when playing M&B..
Edit: Turns out it was in 2009, not 2008! http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,70852.0.html
Ah, thought it was Nov 2008 (based on my TW forum register), five years did sound a bit much but four then
If you didn't play in Warband Beta try to imagine the game:
without falling damage whatsoever,
without team damage (TW actually thought the community would be against it), and
without environment collision (meaning you could strike through walls and ground at your leisure). You could skip from the castle wall, Long War Axe in hand (that old ridiculous Native 2h baseball grip) and just chop away at everything that moved from the second you hit the ground, 30 meters down