Official global alpha start date: November 28th.

[Sephiroth]

EU LS on NA server is even worse than what we had now, EU LSs on global servers. I was in one and when my LS wasn't doing anything or was full party (IE almost every time I logged on because the players in +1 timezones got home from work before me) I spent my evenings sat in Ul'dah doing nothing until I got bored and logged out. I suppose the content finder comes into play there to solve that issue, but I really see no valid reason for picking a region different to the one you live in. I imagine most NA players wouldn't join EU servers and enjoy their raiding times between 9am and 3pm.

[Selamis]

Seriously? I was hoping this spring

Spring was never really a realistic option IMO since Alpha just started after Thanksgiving, and they have to go through closed Beta for PC, open Beta for PC and PS3, make any final adjustments and tweaks, and then release. At earliest I expected this to be late summer/early fall all along.

[Rakisho]

EU LS on NA server is even worse than what we had now, EU LSs on global servers. I was in one and when my LS wasn't doing anything or was full party (IE almost every time I logged on because the players in +1 timezones got home from work before me) I spent my evenings sat in Ul'dah doing nothing until I got bored and logged out. I suppose the content finder comes into play there to solve that issue, but I really see no valid reason for picking a region different to the one you live in. I imagine most NA players wouldn't join EU servers and enjoy their raiding times between 9am and 3pm.

Sounds like those problems comes from playing a shitty game.

[Sephiroth]

Sounds like those problems comes from playing a shitty game.

Possibly. But even ARR is going to have content that requires multiples of 8.

[Rakisho]

Possibly. But even ARR is going to have content that requires multiples of 8.

Yeah I'm not actually saying EU LS on NA is a good idea, you'd be WAY to dependant on your LS. But like I said, one of the best perks of FFXI and global servers were that I could play whenever I want, and there would still be plenty of people around. Obviously, at least on my server, the NA heavily outnumbered the EU players, but there were still always enough to do what you wanted.

I'm not sure how much slightly higher latency will punish you in FFXIV 2.0, because in WoW at high end raiding latency could screw you over a bit.

[jwang]

I want to say end of Fiscal Year '13 for XIV release. Entirely unsubstantiated, but that's what my gut says. It might be indigestion though.

[Lucavi]

Possibly. But even ARR is going to have content that requires multiples of 8.

And if SE does their job, you'll have plenty of people around for a party of 8 in your own region. Where's your sense of nationalistic pride? Euros are always crying about hating their neighbors and loving only their own particular slice of land.

I'd rather not have a laggy experience because SE's trying to have everyone from every nation playing hand-in-hand at all times, forever. I get annoyed with playing with fucking Guatemalans in COD with their ping all over the place; last thing I want are whacked out delays on my abilities in a game that's supposed to be taking a cue from WoW and actually making fights dynamic (IE: requiring more than people standing at the feet and Thieves SATAing on people's assholes).

If they can work it all out to where latency doesn't become an issue (especially since PVP is supposed to be somewhat of a big deal this time around), I'm all for playing hand-in-hand with every Brazillian under the sun. If its going to play like another XI, though, as a result of lofty ideals and poor execution, I'd rather not.

[Rakisho]

If they can work it all out to where latency doesn't become an issue (especially since PVP is supposed to be somewhat of a big deal this time around), I'm all for playing hand-in-hand with every Brazillian under the sun. If its going to play like another XI, though, as a result of lofty ideals and poor execution, I'd rather not.

Yeah that will sadly not happen (as much as I'd like it). Any game that requiers skill is also heavily dependant on not having too high latency. FFXI was a joke skill-wise, and so it worked fine. Have too high latency in WoW and you'll wipe the raid with some bad luck (defile at Lich king as an example). I really hope the EU playerbase will be bigger than I expect it to be, especially if that mid-late 2013 release is true, because I honestly can not see this game getting enough EU players to support more than a couple of servers.

[Lucavi]

Ah, defile...

[Alkar]

Yeah I'm not actually saying EU LS on NA is a good idea, you'd be WAY to dependant on your LS. But like I said, one of the best perks of FFXI and global servers were that I could play whenever I want, and there would still be plenty of people around. Obviously, at least on my server, the NA heavily outnumbered the EU players, but there were still always enough to do what you wanted.

I'm not sure how much slightly higher latency will punish you in FFXIV 2.0, because in WoW at high end raiding latency could screw you over a bit.

Then use the content finder. You can play with people from other servers too.

[Wulfgang]

Seems some people are not even up to date with that stuff, so I'll just repost what we know: the march speculation is no longer valid, as Yoshi said the game will be released sometimes during summer. And that is not taking into consideration any further delays, which are actually to be expected.

I understand where are you coming from with the websites stuff, but to be more specific: they are not worth looking at right now. There is nothing to really create a serious buzz among people that are not following the game so closely as we are. It's just a normal mmo in alpha state. The buzz will start growing when we get to beta and more information will be available on content, gameplay modes etc. Right now, the game is 'dead' since 1.0 for majority. ARR is just slowly getting advertised here and there, so it needs time.

I was expecting May, but Summer makes sense. 1.0 had three months of beta which was obviously too short; assume 4 months for 2.0 with a Beta starting in February and you're looking at a June release date. That's likely a relatively fast timeline.

[Arximiro]

Has there been any official word if we get to import our 1.0 characters for the beta? I know there were mentions of it in the past. It would be nice if they let us do that then carry over any progress to the full version. Would be like the game coming out earlier for us old players basically.

[Alkar]

Has there been any official word if we get to import our 1.0 characters for the beta? I know there were mentions of it in the past. It would be nice if they let us do that then carry over any progress to the full version. Would be like the game coming out earlier for us old players basically.

At some point during beta they'll allow us to use our 1.0 characters but no progress will be saved (it's still a beta).

[Ratatapa]

Did they ever confirm that what we do with our char in beta will not be carried over in Release?

[vadre]

They did indeed, seems like the fair thing to do.

[Xanthe]

Did they ever confirm that what we do with our char in beta will not be carried over in Release?

I think it's silly to expect any progress from a beta to carry over to a production environment. The only reason for letting us use our 1.0 characters in a latter portion of the beta is to test the importing of those 'legacy' characters. It's not about a head start on the game, it's about testing functionality and content like any other beta test.

[Ratatapa]

Wouslsnt' mind to be able to keep my lvs in Beta

[Kononeko]

In my opinion, if it becomes as good as it looks like it can, and se markets the crap out of it at E3, then there will be a sweet spot after for about a month when they could release it people will be super hyped. I think that we can agree that Elder Scrolls might not make it out this year, or if it does looking at about Oct release. So calling my shot right now, June 25th or July 2nd. Its right before the 4th of July which is on a Thursday this year and that means people might make it a long weekend. Kids are out of school and the summer is usually barren of AAA titles thus making it the perfect time. Unless for some reason this gets bumped to be a ps4 launch title, which I doubt but will not rule out 100%.

[miokomioko]

They are unlikely to ever allow beta progress to be saved just because of the fact that part of the purpose of the testing phases is to weed out any game-breaking and exploitable glitches/bugs/oversights/etc. The whole healing circle-jerk from early 1.0 is a prime example of shit that should be found and nipped in the bud during beta tests where progress isn't saved and you won't have to make the hard call to roll people's levels back.

[Lucavi]

Wouslsnt' mind to be able to keep my lvs in Beta

Its like people want to be able to hit end-game faster to complain about it. Not saying you would, but I've heard this before and it typically ends up as someone wanting a head start to get teh sweet lootz, which results in getting a head start on complaining about whatever's up there at end-game.