First and foremost I want to thank all at SquareEnix trying their best to get this game working and the server issues resolved. It cannot be a easy thing with so many upset people to deal with.

That being said here is my suggestion.

To resolve this issue faster and more effectively than what has been done over the few days and yes this suggestion WILL frustrate people who afk online or want to rush the servers and even the people like me who show patience and just try throughout the day however it is in full honestly what I think would help the most with your work load and your players myself included -

Start the maintenance now. Post to all the servers online you are taking them down to resolve the issues that have been happening and start the fixes the posts have been talking about starting on the 4th. I would hope that at least for the reasonable players on this game that they will be happy to not be able to log on (or currently are unable to at this point in time anyways) when it means the fix is issued faster than the current timetable.

I am sure there will be people that are upset by this post but this post isn't for them. For all at SquareEnix you guys are awesome, you guys are working hard on the issue I am sure and you will resolve this issue and if it is decided to drop the servers on the 3rd all the more power to you and I look forward to playing.