Square Enix announced today the dates for the Open Beta as well as Early Access. Are you ready to brave the adventures of Eorzea?
Open Beta Dates – August 17th – August 19th for New Users (weren’t in Phase 3), August 16th – August 19th for Existing Users (partcipated in Phase 3)
Early Access – August 24th – Launch
In other news, Squar also announced Veteran Rewards, which are rewards based upon how long you have been a subscriber to A Realm Reborn. There will be bonus items given at 30, 60, and 90 days and if you start with a 90 day subscription you will get all item sets.
Also announced is the iOS App to accompany A Realm Reborn called “Final Fantasy XIV: Libra Eorzea” which is scheduled to arrive a week after launch.
A Welcome Back Campaign is also being implemented giving players who registered Final Fantasy XIV 1.0 a chance to play for free until September 9th.
Some other highlights from the Q&A where the beta was announced:
- Game cards will be made available for those who would rather not use a credit card or Square Enix’s Crysta currency.
- World transfer service should be available 2-3 weeks after launch.
- In-game repairs going to a scaling amount rather than a flat rate based on the item. This should encourage players to repair more often rather than putting it off as long as possible and risking broken gear to save money (I *may* be guilty to being this cheap).
- Barbershop should be available in the initial patch, 2.1.
- The Great Labyrinth of Bahamut will be the hardest content at the start of ARR. According to Producer and Director Naoki Yoshida: “It will contain a lot of things such as what happened after the Seventh Umbral event. While I can’t really say too much about the mechanics, there will bosses that can only be defeated by performing certain actions and that have different phases. Without having a party that can deal the proper amount of damage, you won’t be able to move past certain phases. Additionally, there will be shared damage type of attacks that you will need to have 4 people get hit by, as well as have a certain character act as a channeler for the damage. There will be a lot of different elements present.”
- Crystal Tower will be 24-player content that shouldn’t be too difficult. They’ve adjusted it to be enjoyable for everyone.
- In addition to the Primal battles, there will be Hard Modes for dungeons.
- There will be an additional reward for doing random content through Duty Finder, namely through additional token drops. This should be implemented once they’ve added a few more level 50 dungeons.
- You will be able to reallocate your attribute points multiple times, but it won’t be something you can do easily.
- Work is still being done on the environment and tools for player-made addons. An update should be available eight months after launch.