Estimated down time between end of Phase 4 and Early Access?

[JillyBean]

I'm posting this thread for opinions and speculation - much as I hate speculation!

I'm trying to plan my vacation time and/or just simply some days off with this game schedule. It is not easy!

The Beta roadmap has been revised since the announcement of the August 27 launch date. I just notice this today! Sorry if I am slow... http://gdl.square-enix.com/ffxiv/download/en/FFXIV_2.0_BETA_Roadmap_EN.pdf

If Phase 3 were to start June 7 or even June 14, and we use up the max time listed in the roadmap (3 weeks P3, 2 weeks debug, 2 weeks P4) that's still 7 weeks total and only gets us to the first week of August. So even if early access is a full week (unlikely, right?), that might make, say August 8 through August 20 a complete dead time (no beta, no early access taking place). Not a good time to take off work!

What do you guys think?

How much down time would you anticipate between the end of Phase 4 and the start of Early Access?

Bonus question, and perhaps a duh on my part: Is there any time (game down) between Early Access and Official Launch? I assume there is no transition there at all? Just a bazillion more people suddenly log in?

[Notredamefan23]

the collectors edition pic says early access is 7 day head start so yea that is likely to start the 20th.

[ArkhamNative]

It does seem odd that the roadmap's phase lengths + the time until launch date don't match. Just to speculate, it could be a mistake and they forgot to update the durations. Or they could be allowing an extra 2-3 weeks in case a beta phase needs to be extended and/or phase 3 starts later than expected.

[finiteHP]

They aren't really following the roadmap closely anymore.

[Robobandit]

They aren't really following the roadmap closely anymore.

Makes you wonder why they bothered to update the roadmap recently at all, then.

I suspect they just left extra time in there for phase 3 + debugging.

They did add a lot of stuff in phase 3.

If we assume 4 weeks for phase 3 (given the amount of content, etc.) and if testing starts the day after the live letter like it did w/ phase 2.. it would start on May 31st and end around June 30th.

with 2 weeks between phase 3 and 4, we'd be looking at phase 4 starting around the 19th of July. If it runs 2 weeks as planned, there would be about a 1 week break between the end of phase 4 and early access.

I'm going to estimate that phase 3 will be 4 weeks, phase 4 will be 2 weeks and there will be a 1 week downtime between the end of phase 4 and early access.

[Kallera]

It does seem odd that the roadmap's phase lengths + the time until launch date don't match. Just to speculate, it could be a mistake and they forgot to update the durations. Or they could be allowing an extra 2-3 weeks in case a beta phase needs to be extended and/or phase 3 starts later than expected.

This isn't new with company projects. You have to plan for time to fix any defects that may come up, and since we're close to finishing, there can potentially mean more time to sift through and correct the problem beneath existing work.

[finiteHP]

Makes you wonder why they bothered to update the roadmap recently at all, then.

I suspect they just left extra time in there for phase 3 + debugging.

They did add a lot of stuff in phase 3.

If we assume 4 weeks for phase 3 (given the amount of content, etc.) and if testing starts the day after the live letter like it did w/ phase 2.. it would start on May 31st and end around June 30th.

with 2 weeks between phase 3 and 4, we'd be looking at phase 4 starting around the 19th of July. If it runs 2 weeks as planned, there would be about a 1 week break between the end of phase 4 and early access.

I'm going to estimate that phase 3 will be 4 weeks, phase 4 will be 2 weeks and there will be a 1 week downtime between the end of phase 4 and early access.

I wasn't aware that they had updated the roadmap recently. I somehow missed that part of the OP. I would have sworn that that part wasn't there when I responded to this topic, but since the post hasn't been edited it's my fault. I was basing my statement on the version of the roadmap that came out before beta started and how the announced start and end dates where longer than max length given in the estimates. In other words old info, so please ignore my earlier post. Maybe I just need more sleep.

[JillyBean]

Hi, again guys! I have another question to throw out for speculation~

One-Time Character Re-Make & Re-Name: Will it take place at Early Access or August 27 (Official Launch)?

I know confirmation has been a long time coming on this one, and we're glad to finally detail how this will work! When you log into A Realm Reborn for the first time with your old character (specifically after phase 4), you will have the ability to redo any aspect of your character -- one time only. This includes the ability to change your name

Everyone's getting a second chance at a first impression!

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...245#post991245

Maybe I just answered my own question. Our one-time only re-do/re-name will take place the moment we log into Early Access, for those who have it?