Greetings All,

I am afraid I am going to have to lock this thread. All Alpha testers are under an NDA. Even something as simple as saying whether or not the .dat files are encrypted would be a violation of the NDA. In fact, testers are not even allowed to admit they are in Alpha.

http://entry.ffxiv.com/alpha/index_en.html
Disclosure of Proprietary Information
As stated in the “FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn Tester Agreement,” testers are prohibited from publicizing any proprietary information related to the Alpha Test on external sites. In the event that we confirm that infringement has occurred, your rights to be a tester will be revoked and your FINAL FANTASY XIV account will be suspended.
We will announce if and when Alpha Test-related details can be publicized, so please take great care in their handling until they have been made public. For feedback and discussions between testers, please use the dedicated tester forum, which will open at a later date.

Thank you for your understanding in this matter.

GM Bublex