I was wondering this too,

I don't really want to switch worlds yet, I just want to know if a shuffle could be possible, as during the beta weekend, my world was closed off to new character creations, and if it is still this full on release, then none of my old FFXI buddies who are waiting fro the release won't be able to join me.
And as the OP, I have invested a lot of time into my toon, and I definatly wouldn't want to start again, I know I am not that high level, but it is all the story progression and everything else I have done.