Global Alpha Test Start Date

For myself, I just need SE / community rep confirming whether inactive account able or not able to apply the alpha....

they just need to confirm it or denied it. Making vague stance like this just make me worry. Hope there wont be any breach of their account management system :)

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Originally Posted by Aion

For myself, I just need SE / community rep confirming whether inactive account able or not able to apply the alpha....

they just need to confirm it or denied it. Making vague stance like this just make me worry. Hope there wont be any breach of their account management system :)

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Have to define active / inactive first. There was another post that made it clear (not a rep post). All you have to do is have had an active session with FFXIV in the past to be included into the poll. So active once counts (people who joined played shortly and then left are in).

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Originally Posted by Aion

For myself, I just need SE / community rep confirming whether inactive account able or not able to apply the alpha....

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They never said an active account was required to be selected for Alpha Testing.

They said an Active account was require to Apply for Alpha Testing.

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Originally Posted by Delsus

Maybe in the first few days, but apparently not now, possibly as I think it was you said, them opening the servers to everyone for the final event messing things up

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Very possible. In which case the right thing to do is to own up to the mistake and apologize, instad of deleting threads.

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If this is not true the why is everyone feeling so entitled, if inactives are not getting in why all the butthurt, people believe inactives are getting in, a messed up script possibly but I do not believe anything unless I see the evidence....

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"entitled" is becoming a catchphrase on the internet, randomly applied to those that have a different stance on things. People feel "entitled" to have a chance to the beta while those that didn't have an active account shouldn't, because the rules that SE made stated so.

If inactives are not getting in, the right thing to do is to post an official statement denying the allegation, instead of just trying to sweep it under the rug when everyone already saw it and it's all over other forums.

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Originally Posted by Shougun

Have to define active / inactive first. There was another post that made it clear (not a rep most). All you have to do is have had an active session with FFXIV in the past to be included into the poll. So active once counts (people who joined played shortly and then left are in).

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That post is just a rather disingenuous attempt to justify the problem. Initially the system automatically bounced out inactive accounts (IE: people that couldn't play the game).

Playing with terminology is rather moot when "inactive" and "active" account have just one very precise meaning in the pay to play MMO industry (or in every industry that requires the payment of periodic fees to access a service). It's not open to interpretation.

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Originally Posted by Kiote

They never said an active account was required to be selected for Alpha Testing.

They said an Active account was require to Apply for Alpha Testing.

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so we need active account to apply for alpha....but did not need it to get selected? wait what?

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the problem is not the selected one, but the case inactive account able to apply.

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Originally Posted by Delsus

If this is not true the why is everyone feeling so entitled, if inactives are not getting in why all the butthurt, people believe inactives are getting in, a messed up script possibly but I do not believe anything unless I see the evidence....

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I had the same stance as you before I saw an inactive account passing the check with my own eyes. Ultimately though, this doesn't matter. If those inactive players get in but don't log in, the login ratio will drop, which means we will get a new wave of invites. Yes, it's silly inactives are getting in in the first place, but hey, mistakes happen. It just means there is a certain delay for some people.

As to why people rage about not getting in is beyond me. It's just a stress test. The majority of the content isn't in, as stated in the interviews.

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Originally Posted by Kiote

They never said an active account was required to be selected for Alpha Testing.

They said an Active account was require to Apply for Alpha Testing.

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But that is the same? or not?

Since if your account is inactive before 30 sept you can't active it to play, in other word you can't join alpha?

Considering some of the people who got in their definition of active seems to mean, bought FFXIV and played during the trial month. But its their game they can let in whoever they want.

This is weird. I logged onto recheck the alpha application. And whenever I log into it I now it, error "your region is different". I logged onto the english application too, and my account is in the region "the americas". Maybe SE saw the problem are currently working to fix it?

Whats important, is that the testers do their best to make sure ARR is in the best shape possible. No matter who they are.

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Originally Posted by Zumi

Considering some of the people who got in their definition of active seems to mean, bought FFXIV and played during the trial month. But its their game they can let in whoever they want.

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then just remove these two requirements


Application Requirements
- Must currently have an active FINAL FANTASY XIV account

- Must be willing to participate actively and submit bug reports in at least one of the following languages: Japanese, English, French, German

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Originally Posted by Abriael

That post is just a rather disingenuous attempt to justify the problem. Initially the system automatically bounced out inactive accounts (IE: people that couldn't play the game).

Playing with terminology is rather moot when "inactive" and "active" account have just one very precise meaning in the pay to play MMO industry (or in every industry that requires the payment of periodic fees to access a service). It's not open to interpretation.

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I know you are on attack mode but I didnt mean it as an excuse. I meant it as a way to effectively talk about SE position on the matter. SE obviously isnt following the expected/general idea of what it means to be active - so inorder to effectively discuss the conversation it may be best to realign information.

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Originally Posted by Gugnir

Whats important, is that the testers do their best to make sure ARR is in the best shape possible. No matter who they are.

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Coming from a lala.. so cute lol - Feel like I just read some Dr. Seus XD

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Originally Posted by Soukyuu

Yes, it's silly inactives are getting in in the first place, but hey, mistakes happen. It just means there is a certain delay for some people.

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Mistakes happen, and I'm very willing to be forgiving towards them when they are recognized and amended. That's why we're all here in the first place no? This whole game is a big mistake, but SE recognized it and is trying to make amends.

I feel much less willing to be forgiving if the mistake is swept under the rug without so much as a word, though.

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Originally Posted by Shougun

I know you are on attack mode but I didnt mean it as an excuse. I meant it as a way to effectively talk about SE position on the matter. SE obviously isnt following the expected/general idea of what it means to be active - so inorder to effectively discuss the conversation it may be best to realign information.

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SE obviously was following the expected/general idea of what means to be active, as lapsed accounts were initially bounced as the application was opened, and were bounced for weeks.

Either some system problem caused the rule to change, or SE changed it intentionally. In the first case, fessing up and apologizing would go a long way, in the second case, that kind of rule changes need to be communicated, for the sake of transparency and even to allow those that tried to initially apply but couldn't to retry.

Honestly, there's no angle I could look at it that justifies SE's current behavior.

If it's a mistake, you apologize.
If it's a change in policy, you communicate it.
If it never happened, you deny the allegation officially instead of deleting the thread about it.

Communication and transparency are always the key in PR. SE seems to have learned this lesson quite a bit ago, so this seems a rather large step back.

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Originally Posted by Gugnir

Whats important, is that the testers do their best to make sure ARR is in the best shape possible. No matter who they are.

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^^ THIS --- Yes please... this is all it matters for these testing stages, as long as finished product comes out the way it should be... not like ver 1.0 release and enough content to keep new players in we should be good.

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Originally Posted by Delsus

I can tell you that people who have alpha tested for SE before will not have priority because I was part of alpha 1 for FFXIV 1.0, so by that logic I would have been high priority for it.

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I doubt that anyone who was in Alpha 1.xx was taken into consideration for that reason.

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Originally Posted by Aion

so we need active account to apply for alpha....but did not need it to get selected? wait what?

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the problem is not the selected one, but the case inactive account able to apply.

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Square Enix defines an Active Account as having Logged in Within the past 30 Days. It is the same requirement used to prevent inactive players from posting on these forums.

To Apply for Alpha, all you had to do was log in to your character, then fill out the Alpha application.

If you cared enough to enable your character, log in to the game, and fill out the Alpha application, you obviously want this game to be successful and are completely justified in being part of the Alpha Test.

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Originally Posted by Kirito

This is weird. I logged onto recheck the alpha application. And whenever I log into it I now it, error "your region is different". I logged onto the english application too, and my account is in the region "the americas". Maybe SE saw the problem are currently working to fix it?

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I tried it too, got the same error.

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Originally Posted by Abriael

I feel much less willing to be forgiving if the mistake is swept under the rug without so much as a word, though.

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I don't think it really was swept under the rug, tbh, it just made an impression of this happening. Whether there will be an explanation from SE or not, idk. I hope there is, else the negative impression will stay, and nobody wants that.

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Originally Posted by Gugnir

Whats important, is that the testers do their best to make sure ARR is in the best shape possible. No matter who they are.

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Pretty much my stance. If I get selected, fine, if not, then not.

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Originally Posted by Abriael

SE obviously was following the expected/general idea of what means to be active, as lapsed accounts were initially bounced as the application was opened.

Either some system problem caused the rule to change, or SE changed it intentionally. In the first case, fessing up and apologizing would go a long way, in the second case, that kind of rule changes need to be communicated, for the sake of transparency and even to allow those that tried to initially apply but couldn't to retry.

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Just saw it in another thread - didnt know they where bumping them originally. I wonder if the apps got into the system even though it said it was bumping them.. lol

I agree with what you're saying btw (previously too), though good luck getting SE to say anything except "Please look forward to the next batch of invites" lol.

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Originally Posted by Soukyuu

I had the same stance as you before I saw an inactive account passing the check with my own eyes. Ultimately though, this doesn't matter. If those inactive players get in but don't log in, the login ratio will drop, which means we will get a new wave of invites. Yes, it's silly inactives are getting in in the first place, but hey, mistakes happen. It just means there is a certain delay for some people.

As to why people rage about not getting in is beyond me. It's just a stress test. The majority of the content isn't in, as stated in the interviews.

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As I say, you saw a receipt of acknowledgement not someone getting in, if the final event did mess things up, they may have added a check to the script that selects, therefore it will either take only evidence an inactive got in, or your brother getting in another wave to show inactives are being selected or of course an official statement from a rep.

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Originally Posted by Velhart

I doubt that anyone who was in Alpha 1.xx was taken into consideration for that reason.

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Actually quite a few people I believe got in that tested closed Alpha for 1.xx. The first two people who confirmed with me both were original Alpha testers for 1.xx, since like the first NA closed alpha. Neither of them stuck around to long after launch, though one reactivated his account (but did not play/login) in order to get Legacy.

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Originally Posted by Gugnir

Whats important, is that the testers do their best to make sure ARR is in the best shape possible. No matter who they are.

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Who they are matters quite a lot. It's rather obvious that those that decided to stick with the game this far will statistically test ARR more thoroughly than some random that quit years ago.

By accepting inactive accounts SE lowered the statistical efficiency of the alpha test by quite a lot.

They started sending in the early MORNINGUH?!?!?!?!

......
time to eat time away with ice cream and vitamin water and rewatch all the pokemon movies....

(this is what i practically did my thanksgiving break.....)

im sorry, but i QQ

the people who got into alpha though were those who answered the questionnaire the right way... I'm sorry but if you selected "I WANT TO PLAY ALPHA BECAUSE I WANT TO PLAY" you probably didn't get in o__O and if you put in something unbelievable like "I WILL PLAY 24/7 STRAIGHT" you probably didn't get in >.> I think S-E was focused on realism criteria for the testing o_O

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Originally Posted by Dragonheart

Oh well, my thread has been deleted without any clarification. SE FTW!

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Tell me about it... total BS of the highest degree.

As i do agree that inactive players should not have been invited due to the fact they know not enough about the game and its story-line to be of any help in actually testing a game the fact is that they were and nothing anyone can do about it.

Those that are whining that they are active and did not get an invite would most likely not serve as a good tester anyway they just want to play the game which is not what this is.

This is a testing situation where in you log on the game test as many parts of the game as possible and report back to SE with various Bugs and glitches that were not yet fixed so that they can be fixed not to test out strategies so that when the game goes live you can have a boost ahead of everyone else.

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Originally Posted by Kirito

This is weird. I logged onto recheck the alpha application. And whenever I log into it I now it, error "your region is different". I logged onto the english application too, and my account is in the region "the americas". Maybe SE saw the problem are currently working to fix it?

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Originally Posted by vax

I tried it too, got the same error.

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I don't know if this will shed some light for you:

This link: http://entry.ffxiv.com/alpha/index_na.html is the link I applied on (see the "na" = assuming North America). If I attempt to apply here, and enter my login info, it simply tells me that I've already applied.

This link: http://entry.ffxiv.com/alpha/index_en.html is the one the link currently on the main page of the Lodestone (Alpha Email announcement) takes you. Not sure what the "en" might stand for that is different, but when I click on it, it tells "the region is different".

Neither "close" button works on either of the links.

(I am East Coast United States)

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Originally Posted by Exn

Actually quite a few people I believe got in that tested closed Alpha for 1.xx. The first two people who confirmed with me both were original Alpha testers for 1.xx, since like the first NA closed alpha. Neither of them stuck around to long after launch, though one reactivated his account (but did not play/login) in order to get Legacy.

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I still have a Google map with every single EU Alpha tester's name, so if you want to get some hard figures you could cross-reference it against those who did and didn't get in to see if there's a corroboration... I'd do it myself, but I'm too busy trying to surreptitiously get tent references into as many threads as I can.

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Originally Posted by ShinigamiKayla

the people who got into alpha though were those who answered the questionnaire the right way...

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You do know that it wasn't exactly an university exam, right?

If you think so many active subscribers answered "wrong" that SE had to resort to inactives, i see quite a lot of naivete in your post.

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Originally Posted by DemonFury

Those that are whining that they are active and did not get an invite would most likely not serve as a good tester anyway they just want to play the game which is not what this is.

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Doesn't it occur to you that many are passionate about getting into the alpha because they want to contribbute to making ARR a better game?

Considering the amount of dedication it took to stick with this game, I don't see it as such an unrealistic possibility. Second guessing the motives of people you don't know doesn't exactly work very well when trying to bring a sensical argument.

Many consider testing a game they're passionate about not only a responsibility, but also a honor, as they're allowed to give their (little as it may be) contribution to the game's development, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

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Originally Posted by Abriael

Who they are matters quite a lot. It's rather obvious that those that decided to stick with the game this far will statistically test ARR more thoroughly than some random that quit years ago.

By accepting inactive accounts SE lowered the statistical efficiency of the alpha test by quite a lot.

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That random tester might help to keep 10,000 subs for SE by helping to make the game more user friendly for people with short attention spans. I'm sure, in all their wisdom the devs know what their doing. So, I take it on faith.

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Originally Posted by JillyBean

I don't know if this will shed some light for you:

This link: http://entry.ffxiv.com/alpha/index_na.html is the link I applied on (see the "na" = assuming North America). If I attempt to apply here, and enter my login info, it simply tells me that I've already applied.

This link: http://entry.ffxiv.com/alpha/index_en.html is the one the link currently on the main page of the Lodestone (Alpha Email announcement) takes you. Not sure what the "en" might stand for that is different, but when I click on it, it tells "the region is different".

Neither "close" button works on either of the links.

(I am East Coast United States)

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Ty, this was the problem, with entering on NA i could check if icompleted it before or not. On the lodestone (at the NA lodestone too) it finish with EN.

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Originally Posted by JillyBean

I don't know if this will shed some light for you:

This link: http://entry.ffxiv.com/alpha/index_na.html is the link I applied on (see the "na" = assuming North America). If I attempt to apply here, and enter my login info, it simply tells me that I've already applied.

This link: http://entry.ffxiv.com/alpha/index_en.html is the one the link currently on the main page of the Lodestone (Alpha Email announcement) takes you. Not sure what the "en" might stand for that is different, but when I click on it, it tells "the region is different".

Neither "close" button works on either of the links.

(I am East Coast United States)

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I see... The en was probably for England or Australia. Just weird that they posted it on the NA loadstone...

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Originally Posted by Rukkirii

Sorry to those of you that were not selected in the current round of Alpha Tester selection. Unfortunately, we need to control the number of users participating, so not everyone is guaranteed a spot. However, please note that this is not the final selection for Alpha Testers and we are proceeding to make adjustments so that we can continue to add testers.

While we can't offer firm timing, or other specifics, at this time, there will be more chances to be selected. We appreciate your understanding everyone.

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So...does this mean there won't be any more invitations up until the start of the next phase on the 28th? Or was today the only day for those emails..and we won't be seeing anything until the next phase. ..?

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Originally Posted by Gugnir

That random tester, might help to keep 10,000 subs for SE by helping to make the game more user friendly for people with short attention spans. I'm sure, in all their wisdom the devs know what their doing. So, I take it on faith.

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I'm sure Yoshida would tell you that blind faith is a very bad idea when talking about the development of a game. That kind of random tester focused on user friendliness isn't suitable for an alpha, as alphas are by definition *not* user friendly. Inviting him is just a wasted slot, while it could be useful in later stages where the game is more accessible and his feedack (assuming that he'll provide any, as that kind of user normally doesn't) can be used to fine tune the game.

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Originally Posted by Rex

So...does this mean there won't be any more invitations up until the start of the next phase on the 28th? Or was today the only day for those emails..and we won't be seeing anything until the next phase. ..?

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If tester login rates drop it will happen sooner, otherwise it will likely be a week or so till the next phase and invites.

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Originally Posted by Rex

So...does this mean there won't be any more invitations up until the start of the next phase on the 28th? Or was today the only day for those emails..and we won't be seeing anything until the next phase. ..?

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It means they will see how things go before they issue more invites, if they need more this phase they will send more out, if they don't until the next phase they will wait.

I have a feeling they'll be keeping a count of the logins at the end of each month. Rather than a each week.

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Originally Posted by Kiote

More than likely, the App selection process went like this:

[...]

Alpha Testers are not random people thrown at a game. They are selected in a way that will maximize the effectiveness of the Desired Tests.

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Gee, then I wonder what criteria they used to select testers who played 1.0 for a month, never even payed to play, never posted on the forums....

You should try spelling r-a-n-d-o-m

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Originally Posted by Abriael

I'm sure Yoshida would tell you that blind faith is a very bad idea when talking about the development of a game. That kind of random tester focused on user friendliness isn't suitable for an alpha, as alphas are by definition *not* user friendly. Inviting him is just a wasted slot, while it could be useful in later stages where the game is more accessible and his feedack (assuming that he'll provide any, as that kind of user normally doesn't) can be used to fine tune the game.

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I agree, that blind faith can be bad but Yoshi and co, have earned my respect with their tireless efforts so I have faith in them they made the right choice for ARR. I'm not going to pretend I know what criteria they chose to use for inviting or qualifying people but there is a reason behind it.