Alpha test "soon"

[Sephrick]

I would wanted them to do that, tbh That way they can only hear the voices of the Alpha/Beta people. I also think, they are going to redesign the forums to look like " A Realm Rebornish"

Agreed, it's certainly be for the best.

[Kafeen]

I'd hazard to guess there's a good chance they'll shut down the forums save special Alpha- and Beta-only sections for testers.

I don't think so; it would be a mistake if they did. They've realised now how important the community is to the game, they should strive to keep it together. If the forums are closed, many people will move to other forums and break apart the community here as many may not come back once reopened.

[Sephrick]

I don't think so; it would be a mistake if they did. They've realised now how important the community is to the game, they should strive to keep it together. If the forums are closed, many people will move to other forums and break apart the community here as many may not come back once reopened.

The last poll showed that a very small portion of the player base posts here regularly. I have a feeling we wouldn't stray very far.

As long as the beta forums are viewable by the general public then all will be well.

Leaving the forum open when there's no game to actually play is just inviting massive trolling.

[Vindrax]

I would be much more worried about the reverse... rushing to put this into alpha/beta testing. I think that's what shot this game in the foot the first time. I remember playing the open beta and with the mouse cursor and ungodly slow UI, I was in shock that they were even considering releasing the game in that state. And sure enough it was not fixed before release and was nearly unplayable for thousands of eager fans that waited YEARS following information on lodestone before launch. They need to deliver and if that means more time upfront now, for a more polished product later, please for the love of god take the extra time.

[Zenaku]

I'm sure there be a NDA for alpha the game would just be to test the servers. ffxiv 1.0 would be still running with the alpha and the alpha wont be very long maybe 1 week at best from what yoshi-p have said.

But even with NDA people still upload youtube videos they did that for alpha, and beta version of ffxiv 1.0.

[Sephrick]

I'm sure there be a NDA for alpha the game would just be to test the servers. ffxiv 1.0 would be still running with the alpha and the alpha wont be very long maybe 1 week at best from what yoshi-p have said.

But even with NDA people still upload youtube videos they did that for alpha, and beta version of ffxiv 1.0.

Yoshida has said there won't be any overlap. v1 comes down, then Alpha starts.

[Zenaku]

Yoshida has said there won't be any overlap. v1 comes down, then Alpha starts.

Guess he change his mind he said that Alpha is just testing the servers so alpha would be running with FFXIV 1.0 and only beta wont be overlap.

[Exn]

Yoshida has said there won't be any overlap. v1 comes down, then Alpha starts.

Wait where is this coming from? I don't recall reading there would be a server downtime period for everyone who didn't get into Alpha? If so, Alpha betta be less than a week..

I guess they'd obviously have to stop charging at the start of Alpha then, instead of the start of Beta.

[Sephrick]

Wait where is this coming from? I don't recall reading there would be a server downtime period for everyone who didn't get into Alpha? If so, Alpha betta be less than a week..

I guess they'd obviously have to stop charging at the start of Alpha then, instead of the start of Beta.

Seems there's a lot of confusion going on.

Final Fantasy XIV players, take note: Your days are numbered. Er, at least your days spent in the original FFXIV world. When the game's rebirth, called A Realm Reborn, occurs later this year, the game's servers will be taken offline. Rather than overlap the two versions of the game, Square-Enix director/producer Naoki Yoshida says the original servers will be taken offline "some day in the near future," precipitating an alpha and then a beta for the game's relaunch later this year.

"Basically what's going to happen is that the current story is still continuing now, but some day in the near future -- and we'll make sure we tell the players what day that is -- something is going to happen in the story, and at that time, the servers are going to shut down," Yoshida told us in a group interview this morning at Gamescom.

The reason for the shutdown is less thrilling than you might think. "Basically the player data will be taken over into the new game. So, to convert all this new data for the new systems, we need a certain amount of time to do this. There's so much data, so many thousands of characters that we must do this for. And so we have to shut down the servers," he said.

Yoshida was quick to point out that players will have plenty of warning ahead of the shut-down (consider this your first heads-up). He also notes that the original game's userbase will be prioritized in A Realm Reborn's beta queue and that players will "be able to use their current characters in the beta test as well." Though that may not be at the kickoff of the beta, he says, "We're working in a way to try to get it as close to the beginning of the beta test as possible."

http://i.massively.joystiq.com/2012/...relaunch-a-re/

[Aldora]

Seems there's a lot of confusion going on.

Yeah, indeed.

Source: http://game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/interview/20120820_554086.html?ref=twitter

...

For the 7th Umbral Era story, when will it end? Also when will the server stop?
Y: For the timing once we are to the point where we can announce the date will let you know. Please wait little bit more.

Doesn’t seem too far away but will the current server stop when alpha test starts?
Y: I think that’s a close line. Not all people will be able to participate in alpha test and alpha test itself is for server load testing.

So for alpha test not all current FFXIV players get to participate?
Y: This is basically server load test so it’s impossible for everyone. And it’s not for them to play but to actually participate in the testing. For playing, that will be from beta.

In another interview i've read that the server would be shutdown for the conversion process when the beta starts.

Basically, we should wait for an official post on Lodestone announcing when the servers will be taken offline. Then we will know for sure when the servers will actually be taken offline and what it will mean for everyone regarding the Alpha/Beta Access and billing process.