Letter from the Producer, XXXV (08/30/2012)

[_pops]

So... is November a typo or did they really push it back 6 weeks, ... because just two weeks ago Yoshi posted that we only had about one month left... better to get it done right i guess.

That was a joke someone pulled. I would know... I fell for it.

[Starlord]

November is when the Beta goes up and that's when the Current Version of FFXIV goes down, Alpha is set to begin on Late September early October.

[Seirra_Lanzce]

November is when the Beta goes up and that's when the Current Version of FFXIV goes down, Alpha is set to begin on Late September early October.

what? in the letter yoshi said Alpha starting after November 11

nvm im hallucinating

[Rizon]

I have several comments concerning the current letter.

1. Most important, IMO, we finally have a tentative schedule from the man himself. Excellent. It appears that Alpha testing won't begin til the middle of November. I fully understand that he is unable to give us a step by step schedule for the various phases to come. The most important thing that he said is that he is not proceeding with the next step until he is sure that everything is as perfect as it can be up to that point. A far sight different from the original testing and launch of the current version. Thank You Yoshi-P.

2. Still no information on PS3 development. Hopefully that will come soon.

3. 1 thing that I did not fully understand. Does the descending of the 7th Umbral Era happen in the period between 1 - 11 Nov with a Grand Finale at server shut down or will it be complete by 1 Nov. Either way it should be awesome.

4. It appears that we will be seeing some game footage <battles> soon with more to come during the TGS. Hopefully the ARR website will be developed to the point where it looks like a real prelaunch site with scads of information concerning the basics of the game

5. Did I read it correctly? We will not be charged from 1 Oct til launch if we are active on 30 Sept or will that start on 1 Nov? A little clarification please.

6. I would much prefer that they shut everything down on 11 Nov and concentrate full on testing and development after that time.

7. Finally I would like to congratulate Yoshida-san and the dev team. They are doing something that no other MMO would even contemplate doing, rescuing a failed MMO while at the same time completely rebuilding it from the ground up. The fact that they were able to accomplish the Herculean effort in only 2.5 years is a testament to their skill and determination.

[Zezlar]

Take the servers down on November 1st. Linkshells and friends will stay in contact. Don't waste resources and man power on keeping this online.

[Rizon]

November is when the Beta goes up and that's when the Current Version of FFXIV goes down, Alpha is set to begin on Late September early October.

That was the schedule in the original roadmap. It is apparent to me from reading this letter and from previous interviews that that schedule is no longer applicable. Granted I am not a developer but I would think that they would want the final character save before they started the Phase 1 stress testing. More knowledgeable people then me can correct me if I am wrong. I do not see Alpha testing beginning before 1 Nov with Beta test scheduled to begin after all the problems with the Alpha test are corrected. Could be wrong.

[Lirion]

That was the schedule in the original roadmap. It is apparent to me from reading this letter and from previous interviews that that schedule is no longer applicable. Granted I am not a developer but I would think that they would want the final character save before they started the Phase 1 stress testing. More knowledgeable people then me can correct me if I am wrong. I do not see Alpha testing beginning before 1 Nov with Beta test scheduled to begin after all the problems with the Alpha test are corrected. Could be wrong.

I think the alpha will be going on alongside 1.0, all you need is a character to get on and stresstest the servers. They wont focus on gameplay in this test. Then if the beta starts in november after the servers go down then the schedule would still be on track. That is of course if this is they way they're doing it.

[Sephrick]

That was a joke someone pulled. I would know... I fell for it.

It wasn't a joke. Yoshida said in several interviews that he didn't want the current version running in tandem with the testing phases and v1 would be shut down when Alpha starts Sept/Oct.

Example:

Final Fantasy XIV players, take note: Your days are numbered. Er, at least your days spent in the original FFXIV world. When the game's rebirth, called A Realm Reborn, occurs later this year, the game's servers will be taken offline. Rather than overlap the two versions of the game, Square-Enix director/producer Naoki Yoshida says the original servers will be taken offline "some day in the near future," precipitating an alpha and then a beta for the game's relaunch later this year.

"Basically what's going to happen is that the current story is still continuing now, but some day in the near future -- and we'll make sure we tell the players what day that is -- something is going to happen in the story, and at that time, the servers are going to shut down," Yoshida told us in a group interview this morning at Gamescom.

http://i.massively.joystiq.com/2012/...relaunch-a-re/


Not that it really matters. We have a solid date now. But as usual something somewhere got confused if everyone who interviewed stated this as the plan.

Just pointing out that the "one month left" thing wasn't just a wild assumption or prank.

[Estellios]

Pretty ridiculous only JP can do Alpha. Not surprised, JP is always favored, but when do NA get the same considerations? We put just as much time and effort into FFXIV as them. This is seriously making me consider other games. Once I get into another game, I usually don't come back. Don't screw this up SE, you have already botched the game enough. While the recent improvements have been phenomenal, DON'T give SE priority on Alpha. Our input should count just as much.

Jesus Christ, did you not read the entire part about that? Only first phase is JP only because the dev team is japanese and needs to be able to respond to crashes and server errors quickly. Second phase people from any country will be able to play if they were accepted. Also it's only alpha and you will barely be doing any actual playing if you are in it.

[Rizon]

I think the alpha will be going on alongside 1.0, all you need is a character to get on and stresstest the servers. They wont focus on gameplay in this test. Then if the beta starts in november after the servers go down then the schedule would still be on track. That is of course if this is they way they're doing it.

Hope you are right. I cannot wait to begin playing ARR.