What year is it?

[Anonymoose]

As of this point in time, the established rule is that, as far as the game is concerned, it will always be 5 Seventh Umbral Era also known as 1 Seventh Astral Era in the basic open world. Units of time may pass, but the calendar doesn't move. Even if as of 4.0 you could prove 365 days went by, they still probably wouldn't change the fact that we straddle those two datelines in a one year bubble.

This is a dilemma faced by a lot of MMOs. To allow everyone that joins the game, regardless of when they do, to experience the full story, there simply has to be a stoppage of time. Okay, not really a stoppage, but more of a time bubble in which a span of about a year is contained. This is why that for the duration of 1.0, Eorzea was in a perpetual 1572. Think of it as the same thing that’s happening in the Simpsons. 23 seasons gone and Lisa’s still 8, Maggie’s still a baby, and the gummy Venus still tastes oh, so sacrelicious. Pushing time along would also mean changing 1000s of lines of NPC dialogue, updating quests, webpages, etc. with every patch. Meaning it would take more than double the time to release updates, and I’m sure most people wouldn’t want to wait. In a book, movie, offline game, a strict timeline can be set without too many complications. In an online title, there are just too many variables, so we ask that you bear with our bending of space-time. It’s for the greater good!

Anwyll:
A while back, you mentioned that 1.0 took place in a "Simpsons Time Bubble." Does the current game do this as well, or has anything changed now that the continuity seems to be decided by patch (PATCH = CANON)?

Koji Fox:
It’s still a bubble; you have to have a bubble. There are players joining in Heavensward that are starting at the beginning. The bubble’s just gotten bigger.