[DEV] Question about "Characters created during phase 4"

[Yrusama]

It also says "Benefits such as early access may be offered between the open beta and official release."

So I am leaning towards a situation where only character appearance is saved, otherwise a benefit like early access would serve no purpose? Since phase 4 would be considered "early access" if all character progress is saved.

False. Early access would be very meaningful even to players in Phase 4.

Phase 4 character data is not guaranteed to be saved depending on any significant discrepancies between the Phase 4 and Launch versions. Therefore, Phase 4 is not, for all intents and purposes, early access, as players should be conscious that any progress they make could be deleted. Even if it is not deleted, having early access would still benefit anyone with a collector's edition, being given a week or so for a head start over players without it.

In short:
Early Access = head start
Phase 4 = maybe head start
Early Access + Phase 4 = maybe super head start