No release date; could it mean we're in for a longer wait than expected?

How do they expect the launch of 2.0 to be successful if they aren't even willing to give a release date? In my opinion you can't just expect to let us know about the release date a week or two in advance, and expect people to be aware of it. In order for people to be aware of the launch of the game setting a release date is a pretty important aspect... Not everyone's following the game as closely as us after all.

If 2.0 is going to most likely come out before February 2013, like most of us are expecting it to, it seems really rash that they haven't even released a release date yet. I can't think of any game launch that hasn't announced a release date well before three months ahead of time. Granted, this isn't really a new game, but they're treating it like one after all...

This leads me to believe that the launch date could be much later than we're expecting. I hope it's not the case, but I'm starting to consider fall or winter 2013 as viable options.

Considering they really want to do things right, setting a release date now could really put to much pressure on the dev team. Trust me i really want this game too, but i also really want them to spend a good amount of time in alpha and beta to get everything ironed out and running smooth. with a set release date now, they might have to push it back some, which will just piss players off more then they already are with this game.

under promise, over deliver, something Borderland's Gearbox has done, and hopefully SE can do

Setting an arbitrary launch date is one of the many reasons they are in the spot there in now.

Do everyone a favor and please let the community know when you finish considering fall and winter 2013 as viable options. At that point let us know what your conclusion is, and hopefully, provide more evidence for the conclusion than the absence of a release date.

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Originally Posted by Griss

Setting an arbitrary launch date is one of the many reasons they are in the spot there in now.

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They are in a tough position because they need to carry over as many subscribers as possible to 2.0 in order to maintain momentum and be successful. So to please those 1.0 subscribers, they can't just leave the date open-ended. People will leave and not come back. Having a fairly fixed window of downtime carries a lot of weight with people planning on returning for 2.0. I think they are doing pretty well sticking to the roadmap. There's some deviance but nothing unacceptable. If open-beta does really start in January like Yoshi has been saying then I think that will point towards a release shortly after which is what they need in order to keep subs.

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Originally Posted by gahoo

Do everyone a favor and please let the community know when you finish considering fall and winter 2013 as viable options. At that point let us know what your conclusion is, and hopefully, provide more evidence for the conclusion than the absence of a release date.

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The "evidence" is self-evident, so I don't need to supply it for you, but considering you seem deeply offended by my speculation I'll touch on the subject a little bit more.

For example, the beta is still yet to take place and beta's are usually at least six months before a games launch. In addition to that fact, Yoshida has stated on several occasions that they will be taking every bit of time needed to make the game perfect before it launches, no matter how long it takes. The observation you so easily dismissed that no release date has been set yet is also a pretty important fact to take into consideration regardless of your opinion. Release dates are important for the sales at the launch of a game, and the marketing team knows that. If devs had it their way all the time games would never have a release date announce until the day before they're shipped; unfortunately however successful marketing doesn't work that way.

Just considering the above mentioned observations, one can reasonably suspect that the launch date may end up being much later than generally expected. However, I'm not saying that I'm convinced that's the case. I made it quite clear that it was just speculation, so the're no reason for you to get so offended. I do think it is a realistic option that it may be as late as next fall or winter. I'm not going to say I think it's more likely that it will be that late, but I'm not going to rule it out as an option either.

March at the earliest..

Hasn't the entire 2.0 roadmap been off schedule? Release will be too I'm sure
Not sure if it's been ENTIRELY off schedule but yeah

It will be done when its done.

They should adopt blizzard vaporware policy :P

They probably won't give a release date until they're comfortable with Alpha testing results. Alpha doesn't sound like it's starting until after the final save, and you can except it to last a month to ensure the stress testing goes ok.

I speculated in another thread, but I think it's going to be around March for retail. Betas for a game don't necessarily have to last 6 months. The only reason the beta would last this long is if the game is bug ridden. They had a foundation to build off of, so ideally the beta shouldn't last too long, and Yoshida has expressed the same in thinking beta won't last very long.

MMOs, don't have a set release date till they are 100% happy with their Product 1 month prior to the release. This goes for most MMOs. With MMOs, it's hard to set a release date because at any given moment something "unexpected" can come up, and delay the release date.

This thread is kinda pointless for that fact alone. We will never know a release date till they are 100% satisfied with everything.

What's the point in giving a release date if alpha and beta haven't started yet? They need to figure out wtf is wrong with the game, fix it, have people test it out again, then they can release it. There is no way for SE to know how long it will take them to fix w/e is wrong in alpha and beta.

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Originally Posted by Shougun

vaporware

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Versus XIII

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Originally Posted by Forerunner

Versus XIII

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:eek: Huh. You're right - I guess they already did adopt it.

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Originally Posted by Orophin

Betas for a game don't necessarily have to last 6 months. The only reason the beta would last this long is if the game is bug ridden.

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I wasn't saying that the beta it's self should last six months. I was saying that usually developers have a games beta at least six months before the planned launch date so they have plenty of time to make adjustments. The beta it's self will probably only last a month at the most.

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Originally Posted by KamikazeMan

What's the point in giving a release date if alpha and beta haven't started yet? They need to figure out wtf is wrong with the game, fix it, have people test it out again, then they can release it. There is no way for SE to know how long it will take them to fix w/e is wrong in alpha and beta.

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As far as I was aware phase one of the alpha (JP only) has been going on for some time now. If you watched the live letter from the producer video stream last month you would have even noticed testers running around while the gameplay footage was being recorded.

Anyone worth their salt at their job should be able to rationally predict how long it takes to do their work. You're theory that companies should wait until testing is finished to give a release date is outlandish. Historically every game that I can think of has announced a release date well before testing was finished. Could you imagine hiring a carpenter to build a house, asking him when it would be finished, and having him tell you "I don't know yet, but I'll let you know once I'm done building it." lol

Community Rushes SE~ SE Rushes it and releases it early
Community Responds to rushed game~ SE THIS GAME SUCKS YOU SHOULD HAVE WORKED ON IT TILL IT WAS FINISHED!
SE~ *facepalms*

The game will have a release date when it comes. I certainly don't want another "Projected release date" and they fail to meet it. I rather them tell me when they are 100% positive it's coming on X month or X date.

Rushing 1.0 ( which wasn't the community's fault) was why 1.0 Failed in the first place. Now community is rushing SE to have a release date.

Don't say I didn't warn you...

No release date doesn't mean anything.

Release dates months in advance are never accurate anyway.

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Betas for a game don't necessarily have to last 6 months. The only reason the beta would last this long is if the game is bug ridden.

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Long betas don't mean a game is bug ridden. Often it just means they are being through and want everything to be as polished as possible. That doesn't imply that it was horribly broken to begin with.

Well hopefully it will be "worth the weight".

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Originally Posted by Starlord

Community Rushes SE~ SE Rushes it and releases it early
Community Responds to rushed game~ SE THIS GAME SUCKS YOU SHOULD HAVE WORKED ON IT TILL IT WAS FINISHED!
SE~ *facepalms*

The game will have a release date when it comes. I certainly don't want another "Projected release date" and they fail to meet it. I rather them tell me when they are 100% positive it's coming on X month or X date.

Rushing 1.0 ( which wasn't the community's fault) was why 1.0 Failed in the first place. Now community is rushing SE to have a release date.

Don't say I didn't warn you...

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I'm not trying to rush them, I'm just saying it may be realistic to expect the release much later than march. Besides even if the community was rushing them its a moot point because SE doesn't listen to the community lol.

In one of your earlier posts you suggested that MMORPG's wait until a month before the release to announce a release date. While I will acknowledge the fact that modern MMO's tend to wait a lot longer to announce release dates, I can't think of a single MMO that hasn't announced a date of release at least five months before hand.

If you insist on a release date for some reason to feel better about the games development, then my advice would be to assume the worst, then that way you are not setting yourself up for disappointment. So figure release date of December, 2014, lol.

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Originally Posted by Mijin

How do they expect the launch of 2.0 to be successful if they aren't even willing to give a release date?

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Because they ... want it to be successful?

they probably want to get it totally right. they don't want to wake up the sleeping beast of peoples that aren't reading forums about the game or new to this mmo completely yet. if things go wrong again it could totally lose them again. might as well be at 100% b4 speaking and giving us dates. or what happened last time can happen again. it's not like a new game and your using all that time for hype. the hype is already gone for alot of people and them giving a date would be from now till that date people will be talking about it. they don't want people who hated the first years to make the new version look like crap for all that time. sneak attack lol.

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Originally Posted by T_Partisian

Because they ... want it to be successful?

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They do? I mean yes, yes they do. The track record this far proves that beyond the shadow of a doubt.... and oh yes, yes they do, money is at stake here, so i unanimously agree.

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Originally Posted by Mijin

Besides even if the community was rushing them its a moot point because SE doesn't listen to the community lol.

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Yeah, they NEVER listen to us. Nothing we say ever changes anything.
...
Owait

No, they do listen. They've changed a lot of their plans due to our feedback. (Remember the server merge/transfer ordeal?) That doesn't mean, however, that they are obligated to listen to everything we say without making any of their own choices.

Of course they need to get this done properly and dont rush it so same shit happens again. But you need to count in, if you wait too long with Informations about the release ppl will go play something else and not come back and loosing too many subscribers is something SE doesnt wants cause it could be the beginning of the end...

There are 2 possible game breaking things that will come from a release date, they are releasing a buggy game on time, and we all know what happened last time that happened.

Or they push the release date back, which also angers people, a release date will come either after Alpha or some way towards the middle of beta, so they know where they are.

A recent MMO developer had the stance "It'll be ready when it's ready" and it's worked out well for them.

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Originally Posted by Ingolf

A recent MMO developer had the stance "It'll be ready when it's ready" and it's worked out well for them.

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Nobody has heard of that mmo... :P lol

think he talking bout gw2, but that game sucks. all mmo's have sucked and probably most players don't play for longer then 6months. so ffxiv isn't in huge trouble if people wander off for awhile. they will come back. no mmo truely satisfies any real mmo'er these days. as for casual, that is what they are, they will come back cause there a.d.d keeps em from staying in one place for long.

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Originally Posted by strallaalaa

think he talking bout gw2, but that game sucks. all mmo's have sucked and probably most players don't play for longer then 6months. so ffxiv isn't in huge trouble if people wander off for awhile. they will come back. no mmo truely satisfies any real mmo'er these days. as for casual, that is what they are, they will come back cause there a.d.d keeps em from staying in one place for long.

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Wow (no pun intended) you speak with such a broad stroke of words, you must know these things to be true, and speak them as fact for everyone.

First of all he is talking about GW2, and maybe it sucks for you, but I'm enjoying myself atm, as are many others. Second, all MMO's have not sucked imo, FFXI is the best MMO I have ever played. I played for 6 years, and guess what, I'm thinking of going back, how does that strike you, lol.

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Originally Posted by Delsus

There are 2 possible game breaking things that will come from a release date, they are releasing a buggy game on time, and we all know what happened last time that happened.

Or they push the release date back, which also angers people, a release date will come either after Alpha or some way towards the middle of beta, so they know where they are.

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People will get mad.. but it doesn't take long for them to get glad! I think the forums are a way to let out Real life frustrations without actually saying the problems.

I rather people get mad at waiting for a long time and say hey this game is awesome at launch, than releasing a buggy game early and saying, SE THIS GAME SUCKS, blah blah.

I mean SE could release a "Time frame" for the release. but that is only if they can meet that timeline. However, it's hard to make a "exact date" until they are close to releasing it.

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People will leave and not come back.

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I really don't see that happening. Actually I believe that the retention rate of customers who stayed in the last months will be close to 100%. People will -at least- give a shot at the beta (in late stage, when the game is almost in a release state) or at release timing. It doesn't mean they will stay after experiencing ARR off course.

But I just don't see how someone who endured XIV 1.x for 2 years would NOT at least give a shot at ARR. It doesn't even matter if you are playing something else, chances for you to come back and at least give it a shot are extremely high. If your interest is not high enough, you would have stopped earlier.

ARR could be released in 2014, I would still give it a shot. Even if it means playing something else for a year in between. And I am sure that lot of people would do the same. I can completely see SE making a "Welcome Back Campaign" when or soon after ARR is released, so former XIV players can get like 7 days free to "witness the changes".

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Originally Posted by Starlord

People will get mad.. but it doesn't take long for them to get glad! I think the forums are a way to let out Real life frustrations without actually saying the problems.

I rather people get mad at waiting for a long time and say hey this game is awesome at launch, than releasing a buggy game early and saying, SE THIS GAME SUCKS, blah blah.

I mean SE could release a "Time frame" for the release. but that is only if they can meet that timeline. However, it's hard to make a "exact date" until they are close to releasing it.

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If they come back for release, if it takes too long, or they just dont get Infos a bunch of them won't and everybody knows FFXIV needs every single subscriber.

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Originally Posted by Lurex

Wow (no pun intended) you speak with such a broad stroke of words, you must know these things to be true, and speak them as fact for everyone.

First of all he is talking about GW2, and maybe it sucks for you, but I'm enjoying myself atm, as are many others. Second, all MMO's have not sucked imo, FFXI is the best MMO I have ever played. I played for 6 years, and guess what, I'm thinking of going back, how does that strike you, lol.

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umm, i played ffxi for over 5years as well, fact probably 10+ hrs a day (><) lol. but either way i wouldn't go back cause it's not the same game to me now. either way ffxi now fits into my opinion that all mmo's suck now. gw2 is a joke of a game but again my opinion(it's a solo game for most part, and too many like the solo'ing in a online game and that is the huge joke of it), only part that i'm saying is true is all mmo's dwindle hugely and die out quick ...and most are going to be willing to come back to this game no matter how much they do or don't like the one they are playing till ffxiv releases. if we did a world wide vote i'm sure all of it could be considered fact, it's easy math, this many start ..this many leave, ask those who left why. end of case. but again opinions since i'm not gonna go into legistics nor care to find them or whatever else. really in all of this my opinion is the only one that matters lol, if i think a game sucks then i want that to change. i want to love a mmo and play it for 5years again. it's not gonna happen if they follow suit with the same methods of making a mmo as they have since ffxi released. ...fact.

and lol, i played ff1 when it released too :) if you never played gyromite you suck as a human bwhahahaha.

Releases when Yoshi and Wada find it acceptable. End of story.

http://up.q8bbm.com/bb/4e7613505232821.jpg
http://www.amazon.com/Final-Fantasy-...qid=1349481281

December 31st is a common date used when the release date is not currently known.

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Originally Posted by T_Partisian

Because they ... want it to be successful?

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Working out all the bugs from beta isn't the only formula for making the game successful... So is advertising and setting a release date ahead of time so new players actually buy the game. That's what I was trying to infer, but I think it went over your head.

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Originally Posted by Raldo

December 31st is a common date used when the release date is not currently known.

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This +1

Also, let's just assume December 31st is the deadline, let them take as much time as they want if that's what they need to deliver the perfect FF MMO. People waited for 2 years, it would be a shame if the game got delivered "too soon" with many flaws because people couldn't wait a few more months.

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Originally Posted by ShellQ8

http://up.q8bbm.com/bb/4e7613505232821.jpg
http://www.amazon.com/Final-Fantasy-...qid=1349481281

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Amazon gave a release date! they must know something we don't!

*rolleyes*