During the Letter from the Producer Live broadcast that is currently being aired by Square Enix, Producer and Director Naoki Yoshida finally announced the much awaited start date of the open beta of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn.
The gates of the new and reborn Eorzea will finally reopen on August the 17th and will close again on August the 19th. Everyone will be able to play during those three days, but those that played in the earlier phases of the beta will be able to start on the 16th instead. Turns out the rumor I reported on a few days ago was actually correct.
Early access for those that preordered the game and Legacy members will start on August the 24th.
That’s a later date than many hoped, but at least now we know when we’ll be able to ride chocobos and ogle sexy miqo’te (female or male, depending on your taste) again.
As a quite relevant aside, all progression achieved during the open beta and the following early access will be carried over (short of unforeseeable problems) to the released game, so you can pretty much consider the upcoming beta phase as a soft release in which you can already start leveling your character up. Unfortunately the game will have content only until level 20 during the open beta, so the progression that can be achieved is limited (you wouldn’t be able to go much further in three days anyway). On the other hand early access won’t have limits.
Finally, the new Arcanist class will also be available during the open beta for everyone to try out for the first time.