Infos on the Real game Direction? WHEN?!

[HiirNoivl]

tl;dr - It's faster to test and re-test fixes on 3 classes (or one zone) multiple times and then move the fixes out to the remaining classes ONCE, than it is to test and re-test fixes on all the classes multiple times.

This is over simplified. Tweaks and testing from phase 1 extend all the way into phase 3. Just because phase 1 ends doesn't mean that the devs can slap their hands together and say "OK done with Grid and it's classes time to start on the rest!" People will still find bugs and exploits in later stages, but with less time to fix them on top of testing other features of the game. They'll have to test and retest all the classes at the same time regardless.

In the end, if there are too many bugs, if some features aren't thoroughly tested by the projected launch time then launch should be delayed. If features aren't ready to be tested until phase 4 and they need more time for it to cook, launch should be delayed. FFXIV already has a stigma attached to it. Some folk will always brand this game as a failure. But that doesn't mean that we should give them a reason to!

[Radacci]

In the end, if there are too many bugs, if some features aren't thoroughly tested by the projected launch time then launch should be delayed. If features aren't ready to be tested until phase 4 and they need more time for it to cook, launch should be delayed. FFXIV already has a stigma attached to it. Some folk will always brand this game as a failure. But that doesn't mean that we should give them a reason to!

I'm quite sure they got it covered; included in Roadmap. We're already looking at up to 5 months of beta, and i think that's worst case scenario, with many bugs to fix etc included. They know very well that if they need to delay game longer than that, people gonna whine about it.
Personally i'm not worried at all; from what i've seen of alpha, it was already miles better than 1.0 It's only gotten better, and will only get better still. Only thing that would worry me is if someone finds and use dupe exploits or such in phase 4. But as long as it's resolved during beta, it's all good. Any minor stuff like terrain bugs, skill balance, shouldn't delay release.