About ARR release.

[Sanctus]

This is very likely a data scrubbing issue. They are going to have ALOT of data to sort through and run ETL process on in order to translate it to the new database structure. With all the talk of how different the game is, it is very likely that much of the previous databases were scrapped entirely. They are going to have to have time to translate the data over, then test it to make sure there isnt any issues.

They also told people you would be able to change race, so if you have any of the race specific starting gear on, there would have to be triggers written to go though and change the equipment you have equipped if you choose to change. This has to be done on the fly because they don't know who you will change to in the end.

Lastly, there is data wherehousing to talk about. They are going to want to have a standard set of initial parameters to work from and the more people keep using it, the longer they have to wait to have a final data-set. If they pic a date and work with it, then if something goes wrong, they will always have that specific copy.

I would have thought you would need to freeze accoungs 2-3 months out bare minimum if you want to go through this process with the tiny team they have at SE.

Theres no doubt about that, but it was planned for in the initial roadmap and they had said it could take up to a month to accomplish. For arguments sake lets say it takes twice that. That would put character data being transferred by no later than when the beta is slated to be released.

Now, if you were SE and you weren't going to allow the data recorded in the ARR beta to carry over into release, you wouldn't be worried about having the character data ready in time, in fact they would likely give us beta characters to work with similar to the alpha. I think this is what is going on here though it hasn't been confirmed, it seems the only logical explanation as to why they had to take servers down now and are rushing to transfer data in time for when beta starts. We may very well be looking at more of an "exclusive early release" rather than a beta in late jan / early feb though they will call it a beta for sure, and a few things may not be in the game until the "official" release