Is it true beta only lasts a few hours?

Can anyone direct me to this information or anything relevant related to it? I've been hearing a lot of talk but never seen anything official.

So how many total hours is it going to be? I thought it would be open beta weekend, where you can play all weekend long, and then they bring it down during the week, and the next weekend it's open for playing again.

Thanks for any info.

The first phase specifically the servers won't be up 24/7. From the second phase on, they will be online all the time.

Only the final phase is an "open" beta.

http://entry.ffxiv.com/beta/detail_na.html

Under the heading "Beta Test Schedule"

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The beta test will be divided into four phases. During phase 1, the game will only be available for a few hours on specific days, but availability will be increased in subsequent phases. A more detailed testing schedule will be posted on the Beta Tester Forum.

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That is all of the official information we have.

*edit* Steve beat me :(

Thanks a lot for this, I guess that's all we know for now, I wish phase 1 had passed without me knowing it, and we are on the verge for the next phase. But now I can't wait to start playing.

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Originally Posted by Hycinthus

Thanks a lot for this, I guess that's all we know for now, I wish phase 1 had passed without me knowing it, and we are on the verge for the next phase. But now I can't wait to start playing.

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Make sure you're actually sending feedback while you play, if you run into a problem don't just ignore it
You probably know this but just saying

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Originally Posted by Hycinthus

Thanks a lot for this, I guess that's all we know for now, I wish phase 1 had passed without me knowing it, and we are on the verge for the next phase. But now I can't wait to start playing.

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The beta is not a game demo. The point is to help the dev team find problems so that the launch goes more smoothly.

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Originally Posted by Alhanelem

The beta is not a game demo. The point is to help the dev team find problems so that the launch goes more smoothly.

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I know you.. From somewhere but by a different name. eorzeapedia.com maybe?

Anyway. I agree 100%. People need to treat beta like a test, not a demo.

More than half the alpha forums were people playing the game just to play treating it like a demo..

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Originally Posted by Alhanelem

The beta is not a game demo. The point is to help the dev team find problems so that the launch goes more smoothly.

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However the later phases and the open beta are like a demo to promote the game. I am sure they will have promotions on game related sites to give out keys because they want people to try the game.

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Originally Posted by Zumi

However the later phases and the open beta are like a demo to promote the game. I am sure they will have promotions on game related sites to give out keys because they want people to try the game.

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The final phase is pretty much a publicity/hype thing. However the first phases are more genuinely about smoothing out the rough edges and helping the devs gather data that is difficult to gather with just a squad of in-house testers.

What I'd like to know are the times. If it's only a few hours a day how is that going to work with JP/NA/EU?

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Originally Posted by Xenor

What I'd like to know are the times. If it's only a few hours a day how is that going to work with JP/NA/EU?

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Probably like the 1.0 alpha - they will have JP/NA/EU phases and you will play the one corresponding to your region (SE account)

That's gonna suck because I work so much I'm not going to have much time to play, and when I do who knows if it will even be up.

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Originally Posted by Xenor

What I'd like to know are the times. If it's only a few hours a day how is that going to work with JP/NA/EU?

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I forgot how it work with FFXIV 1.0 beta i think they start on jp time and if you can play you play lol. Not very sure on that tho was long time ago.

Well, East Australia is only 2 hours away from Japan so I should be able to get into the testing times if it IS during JP prime.

Right? Right? .___.

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Originally Posted by KyahAlmasy

That's gonna suck because I work so much I'm not going to have much time to play, and when I do who knows if it will even be up.

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Well that's your problem right there. Its not really the time to play. We are testing out the game so in the future we can play without much problems. I hope you won't be one of the people making threads and crying on how something is not working in a beta phase game

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Originally Posted by Xenor

What I'd like to know are the times. If it's only a few hours a day how is that going to work with JP/NA/EU?

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In 1.0 it went like this:

Servers will be up xx time, only players with a JP account can log in.
Servers will be up yy time, only players with a NA account can log in.
Servers will be up zz time, only players with an EU account can log in.

Then they had 3 windows a day and anyone could log in, all until the servers were up 24/7. The testing windows were at primetime for each region.

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Originally Posted by Ricky

Make sure you're actually sending feedback while you play, if you run into a problem don't just ignore it
You probably know this but just saying

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Fear not! I will report a bug when I encounter one, but doesn't mean I can't enjoy playing the game too hehe.

Someone here posted a comment, I forgot the exact word, but it was something like, "While making the baby, you can maybe enjoy the sex too".

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Originally Posted by Delsus

In 1.0 it went like this:

Servers will be up xx time, only players with a JP account can log in.
Servers will be up yy time, only players with a NA account can log in.
Servers will be up zz time, only players with an EU account can log in.

Then they had 3 windows a day and anyone could log in, all until the servers were up 24/7. The testing windows were at primetime for each region.

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ahh yes now i remember :) and the first 3 week of beta 1 was just dam bad lol log in for 1sec d/c beta would start next week. Log in next week beta would start next week log in next week for 15m beta would start next week.

Thank god 2.0 is doing much better.