Live Letter 5am Pacific August 8th

This one should have the phase 4 release news we have been waiting for.  You can watch it from either of these links:

http://www.twitch.tv/finalfantasyxiv

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oLdgjimrUQ

The youtube link even has a handy count down timer for nerds like me :P edit * there are 524 people watching the countdown timer, haha*

We will post as soon as we know definite info.  I would like to take this opportunity (once again!) to stress the importance of logging on to create a character on Excalibur as soon as you possibly can.  Servers will fill up due to the increased popularity of the game, and I would hate for anyone to be locked out of our server.

Well - I have my account all set and I log into the website every day to see if the download is available - but not yet...

... and I check here.... now at least I know there is a timer for something that I can watch. :)

Thanks Hex!

Good point Natch, I forget that i have my own personal translator (Gibsauce)...I just wanna know the date tonight, the rest I can wait for a translation on.  Appreciate you clarifying that for everyone.

Have they ever stated whether or not Phase 4 will be a "soft release", ie. we need to delete our Beta client and download a "live client" and there will be no character wipes before Release?

Aye the phase three client can be deleted, and all phase 4 progression(exccept pvp) will carry over to live unless some huge foul up causes them to need to wipe data.

Sweetness, thanks Izzy.  I was reading a thread on the Beta forums and some of the comments made me curious if Beta 4 was going to be a keeper or not.  Now I really can't wait for the announcement... :D

The only other restriction I am aware of is that legacy players may not change their appearance and name during phase 4.  They have to wait til headstart. Many players have requested that this be changed, so SE hopefully will alter their stance in the live letter tonight.

I just hope that the prediction I see out there the most of P4 starting on the 9th and ending on the 16th is correct.  That being said you would think they would have released the new client by now so that everyone isn't downloading it at once on the 9th.  Either way I still have yet to decide between the Warrior and the Paladin...

I'm thinking P4 will be shorter than that, since we haven't even been given a link to the .exe. But I guess we will know in about 8 hours!

I'm betting that P4 starts sometime next week and rolls on into the early start period.  If this P4 client is the final client, then I see no reason why they'll bring services offline prior to early start.  Well, maybe one reason, and that would be a couple of days for the accounting back-end, so that they can stop the Beta access service and bring the retail key system online.  I forgot they still need to do that, at least that's what my retail purchase email had mentioned.

That's what I'd do to try to hook those who are still "on the fence" about a purchase: kick open the OB doors to the world and shift the marketing machine into overdrive, let people get attached to their characters during "phase 4" and dangle the carrot of keeping their Beta progress if they buy the game.  ;)

Well, I was pretty close to hitting the nail on the head, but was way off with thinking they'd want to hook folks with the open beta.  I should have just stopped after my first comment, LOL.

Regarding pre-order codes: (click on the below for link to original post)

Greetings,

The pre-order codes that are being distributed for North America and Europe include instructions that they will be redeemed via a special website:

NA: http://preorder.na.finalfantasyxiv.com

EU: http://preorder.eu.finalfantasyxiv.com

This special site is not yet live for users to redeem the codes received from their retailer. Once the code redemption for this site is live, scheduled for August 20, 2013, you will be able to enter the code you received that looks like: ABCDEF-###-ABCDEF-###

That will then give you all the instructions required to register your early access code.In short, hang tight guys and don't panic!

Matt "Bayohne" Hilton - Community Team

Here's a nicely detailed recap of the Live Letter in English!  http://www.dualshockers.com/2013/08/08/check-out-the-info-and-relevant-screencaps-from-the-eighth-final-fantasy-xiv-letter-from-the-producer-live/