Letter from the Producer, XXXVI (10/05/2012)

Hello again to all you FFXIVers out there, and to all of you looking forward to FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn. Yoshi-P here, bringing you the thirty-sixth Letter from the Producer.

The development team is currently in the final stages of preparing the alpha test version of A Realm Reborn. As both producer and director, I’ve had my nose to the grindstone, though most of my duties have been director-related.

Now, to answer the question that’s on everyone’s lips: when the heck is the alpha test going to start!? Well, it looks like things can finally get moving around the end of October.

There will not only be stress tests for the new servers’ coding and hardware configurations, but also tests for what will be the backbone of the game’s new system, which is why we’re being very cautious with development. Bear with us for just a while longer.

Now then, let’s get to the meat of this letter: the results from our latest poll! Though it was only a single question, we received a great deal of feedback.

Q. Would you still want to continue playing the current version of FINAL FANTASY XIV after November 11, 2012, even if none of the character data accumulated beyond that date was carried over to your FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn account?
<img src="http://static.finalfantasyxiv.com/topics/images/13/a9/7144_0.jpg"><table width="580" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="ta01"><tr valign="middle" align="center" class="th01"><td bgcolor="#f5cca2" class="th01"></td><td width="40" bgcolor="#f5cca2" class="th01">JP</td><td width="40" bgcolor="#f5cca2" class="th01">NA</td><td width="40" bgcolor="#f5cca2" class="th01">GB</td><td width="40" bgcolor="#f5cca2" class="th01">FR</td><td width="40" bgcolor="#f5cca2" class="th01">DE</td></tr><tr valign="middle" class="td01"><td bgcolor="#f8dfc5">Yes</td><td bgcolor="#f6efe5" align="right">51.3%</td><td bgcolor="#f6efe5" align="right">33.5%</td><td bgcolor="#f6efe5" align="right">30.3%</td><td bgcolor="#f6efe5" align="right">28.1%</td><td bgcolor="#f6efe5" align="right">33.6%</td></tr><tr valign="middle" class="td02"><td bgcolor="#f8dfc5">No</td><td bgcolor="#fffaf3" align="right">48.7%</td><td bgcolor="#fffaf3" align="right">66.5%</td><td bgcolor="#fffaf3" align="right">69.7%</td><td bgcolor="#fffaf3" align="right">71.9%</td><td bgcolor="#fffaf3" align="right">66.4%</td></tr></table>Overall, about 35% of you voted for keeping the servers open, regardless of the fact new data won’t be carried over.
While these numbers make for a tough decision, I was planning to keep the servers open so long as 30% of the players voted for it. And so, a few days after the servers go down on November 11th (00:00 PST), we’re planning to bring them back up.

However, we’re going to take a look at the login numbers at the end of each month. In the event that numbers drop below 30%, we’ll take the servers down again, and decide where to go from there. Expect more details on when the servers will be back online after everything’s been shut down. But for now, go and have as much fun as you can before November 11th.

In developing A Realm Reborn, we’ve redesigned the game from the ground up, and the development team has great expectations for the future.

Our first big step—the alpha test—is almost here.
I’m on pins and needles waiting to see how the stress tests turn out. I have a feeling I’ll be trapped in the office for about two weeks once they’re underway. :p

Well, it’s about time for me to head back to my post, but I’ll be back soon in the next letter, on the forums, and in the alpha test. :)