Alpha Tester Acceptance Mails Heading Out!

[Lirion]

i highly doubt there using Alpha as a stress test for there servers, that's more open beta territory. alpha is for the more glaring issues like "falling through the map" type stuff.

Yoshi himself said the alpha is a stresstest in his letter.

Our first big step—the alpha test—is almost here.
I’m on pins and needles waiting to see how the stress tests turn out. I have a feeling I’ll be trapped in the office for about two weeks once they’re underway.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/55751

Falling through the map type of stuff have probably been ironed out but bugs and glitches happens and if they happen in the alpha people should report them. But the devteam have said that the alpha is a stresstest with the beta being a test for gameplay mechanics and balancing stuff.

That depends on how well they set them up to begin with, how quickly they can identify any issues, how fast they can make changes in the case that issues are found, and if those changes end up being the right ones.

Of course the test can turn out showing that they will need more time, all I said was that they said they plan that the alpha will last one month and have 4 phases, that would make the phases one week each. That's all.