Comments from the Devs

[Carth]

XIV will be the first time I give my character a complete makeover, so I'm actually excited for the benchmark to arrive. And without any pressure, I can take my time with it.

[Hyan]

There's a post by Foxclon on the JP forums about the Benchmark, and from what google translate tells me it won't be released until 8/1 in NA & JP.

Hai.

[Spider-Dan]

The decision of my characters race will depend on Elzen hair options still being complete shit. Its sad.. i like being the tallest female around, feel like i can pick up these fuzzy man-qito's by their necks and squeeze till the kicking stops.

If you want to be the tallest female, Girlka is your only option.

[shidobu]

If you want to be the tallest female, Girlka is your only option.

lol i made one just to see. didnt like it. Went back to Fem elzen like my 1.0 char

Spoiler: show

Will go with this delicious brown sugar if they give me a better hairstyle


accidently.. re-made the archer npc without knowing it

[gilgam]

https://secure.square-enix.com/accou...betatop?rgn=jp
Beta4 is 17th.
can't wait-.-

[Sephiroth]

https://secure.square-enix.com/accou...betatop?rgn=jp
Beta4 is 17th.
can't wait-.-

I don't think this is true.

Change the jp on the end to en and you get this:

https://secure.square-enix.com/accou...betatop?rgn=en

"FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn Beta Tester Application Site
Beta registration is scheduled to begin August 17, 2013. "

That doesn't imply phase 4 beta will begin on the 17th.

[Foxer]

Beta registration 10 days before the game officially launches? lol

[Sigmakan]

wut.

[Niiro]

7 days of Beta -> 3 days of early start -> launch seems like a really tight schedule if you want to actually get anything done in terms of fixing problems that come up.

Hope they know what they're doing.

[Carth]

They would have to be incredibly stupid to start Phase 4 on the 17th, let alone registration. That would give literally no time between Phase 4 and Early Access.

[gilgam]

I don't think this is true.

Change the jp on the end to en and you get this:

https://secure.square-enix.com/accou...betatop?rgn=en

"FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn Beta Tester Application Site
Beta registration is scheduled to begin August 17, 2013. "

That doesn't imply phase 4 beta will begin on the 17th.

* If your beta code has not been registered by the above date and time, you will need to resubmit your application at the Beta Tester Application Site once Beta Test phase 4 begins.

this mean beta4 starts 17th..no?

[Niiro]

Unless they cut phase 4 short or early access is only 1-2 days, it kind of has to start by then.

[Takiwaki]

If beta is running during that time it more or less means early access will be the weekend only (3 days) with a very short break between beta and early access start.

Edit: beaten.

Beta can run as late as Thursday 22nd, giving a day break and early access starting the 24th

[Sephiroth]

* If your beta code has not been registered by the above date and time, you will need to resubmit your application at the Beta Tester Application Site once Beta Test phase 4 begins.

this mean beta4 starts 17th..no?

Where did you find that line?

I'm thinking they could start the beta on like the 14th and once the initial flood is over allow new people to join. But as someone else said the 17th is ridiculous even for registrations.

They did say this in a dev comment recently however:

"Those who pre-order Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn and register a special early-access code will be able to play FFXIV a few days prior to the official release date!"

So if early access started on the 24th beta could run from 17th to 24th and still last a week. This leaves no time between beta and early access though so phase 4 may be shorter.

[gilgam]

http://lodestone.finalfantasyxiv.com...6d29fb57edb681

[Laelani]

Character benchmark starts 11am est tomorrow?

Sad this doesn't include the ps3 according to Fernehalwes.

[Rokku]

I'm not sure why anyone would be surprised about phase 4 starting barely over a week before launch. One of the last couple times that Yoshida was asked about it he said pretty much exactly that, word for word.

[Raldo]

It's surprising because...

It defeats the purpose of the beta since it doesn't give them much time to fix anything, and it doesn't really give them any time between Phase 4 and Early Access. I don't know of a single thing that Yoshida has said that would lead to Phase 4 happening so late. I think most people thought Phase 4 would be from the 13th through the 20th.

At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out that Phase 4 is only ~4 days long.

[Voyage1970]

I'm not sure why anyone would be surprised about phase 4 starting barely over a week before launch. One of the last couple times that Yoshida was asked about it he said pretty much exactly that, word for word.

I'm pretty sure Stanislaw confirmed that Yoshida was saying Phase 4 was 1 week long not that it was 1 week away (from the time of statement) or 1 week before release.

[Rokku]

The last time, or maybe the time before that, he mentioned that they were looking at phase 4 wrapping up a day or two before early access started. On top of that, he referred to phase 4 as a "short trial version of Final Fantasy XIV", so I don't really think they were ever planning to go into phase 4 with anything less than an almost complete build of the game.