Some curiosity about betas

[Sephrick]

I was pondering a few things and thought I'd toss a few questions out there in hopes of getting some clarification. Just confused mostly.

GE: Speaking of Beta, will there be downtime between current game and 2.0?

Yoshida: What’s going to happen is that after the current version is finished and storyline over, the servers will go down and the 2.0 beta will start up. We want to make sure we don’t make the same mistake as before, and want to be sure we have enough time not only for the beta test but also to get feedback from the players and leave enough time to implement that feedback. Also, keep in mind that transferring the characters to the new servers and systems could take up to a month. So that process will be running while the beta test is in place. There can’t be a launch immediately after the current servers are shut down.

So what’s the timeline on all this? First, in August, Square Enix will ramp up more detailed reveals about what’s to come in Final Fantasy XIV. Then in September, there’ll be an alpha test, and after feedback is collected and incorporated into the game, a beta test version will roll out first for PC, then for PlayStation 3. “We want to make sure this time we take a lot of time to listen to feedback from users during this beta test and implement as much of it as possible before the release,” said Yoshida. “We want to make sure we have a massive amount of content at launch. We don’t want to go into launch without enough to do. So it’s going to be building up that content base and getting this feedback in. That might end up pushing the release back a little. It’s all going to depend on that.”

1) Given the above information, it seems the intended plan is 1.23 in July/August > 2.0 Alpha in September > 2.0 PC beta in October > PS3 beta and PC free trial in November through January. Is this correct?

If so, wow is that a tight schedule.

2) Obviously if our character data is being transferred during PC beta, we'll be without access to our character?
A) Will we be without our characters from October through to the end of PS3 beta, or only for the month of PC beta?
B) Will all PC players be able to participate in said beta, or will it be invite-only?
C) Given that the "free trail period" doesn't start till PS3 beta, will we be charged during the PC beta period?

3) If the 2.0 client isn't being distributed until the PC beta phase starts, are there plans to make it available outside of the current patch download method?

[Cendres]

I'm supposing the payment system will be frozen during the time our current characters are in limbo and we can't play them, and we are hopefully all in beta for 2.0.

[Airget]

1 is pretty much answered yourself

2) Obviously if our character data is being transferred during PC beta, we'll be without access to our character?
Yes we may be without our characters for up to a month because of how difficult the process may be to transferring everything to the new engine and making sure everything is transferred safely. With a transfer from one engine to another it may be tougher to reimburse for lost items so odds are this month long process will be full of double triple checks to make sure each character being moved over is in tact with everything.

A) Will we be without our characters from October through to the end of PS3 beta, or only for the month of PC beta?
As above should hopefully be a month or less but thinking about it I imagine they woudln't begin the transfer until the confirmed the "estimated" release of the game. So beta may take place from October-Novemeber, we'll be able to play during October while beta is taking place but once November rolls in we might be locked out til December aka the completion of the beta.

Honestly at first I thought they would take the method in which they would transfer our characters over and treat us as the "beta" group but it looks like they want it to be as fresh an experience as possible when people enter the new world.

B) Will all PC players be able to participate in said beta, or will it be invite-only?
Invite only and they aren't going to give 1st dibs to people who have Legacy so it's pretty much everyone on equal ground.

C) Given that the "free trial period" doesn't start till PS3 beta, will we be charged during the PC beta period?
There will be no charge during the data transfer from 1.0 to 2.0 and there will be no charge when 2.0 first goes live for about 1-3 months I imagine.

3) If the 2.0 client isn't being distributed until the PC beta phase starts, are there plans to make it available outside of the current patch download method?
No clue on this one but hopefully they've considered other methods of obtaining the patch so that it's less of a pain then from the 1.0 beta.


Hope that helped you out a bit, as things come closer I"m sure we'll get better confirmation but from what I read that's how I under it so far.