I don’t know if it was the DBC stuff, but this is my view what happened:
Last week:
Then earlier this week we get this PR in Github: Startup tweaks
I am not 100% sure of the timing, but I think the price shoot right after that PR appeared. (I have been watching Github).
So I think it was quite reasonable to expect testnet. I personally was almost certain of it coming because of the story above. Then maybe an hour before the Dev Update came the other PR, more startup tweaks. 
Now I’m thinking that after that is merged it is time for testnet.
But I admit that I too fear that they are widening the scope of testnet and it moves further into the future. 