Quote Originally Posted by Duelle View Post
There is a way this can be dealt with. Make the test server a large empty room about the size of New Gridania. Have players make a character, talk to an NPC that levels them to cap or whatever intended test level. Add treasure chests or an NPC that gives out job-specific max level gear for testing. Add a console that summons a boss to test the gear/gameplay against. No story is spoiled (though to me that's a dumb reason for not having test servers) and you can test all combat-related gameplay aspects.
This is brilliant.