[Eorzea]

As you are no doubt aware, things have been relatively quiet on the Final Fantasy XIV news front as of late. In addition, many of our members—as well as those throughout other FFXIV communities—have no doubt been busy enjoying the beta test, which translates to rather slow activity, unfortunately.

Those of you testing likely have a fairly decent grasp of what the game has to offer at this point. For the rest of you, the following news/information should provide some solace.


Sever stability is on the rise!

The 24/7 beta access has been running successfully for nearly a week now. There have been a couple of instances for which Square Enix was required to take down the servers for maintenance, but this is to be expected. Compared to the earlier stages of beta testing, this past week has been a major improvement as far as server stability is concerned.


More beta test access!

As posted @FF_XIV_EN:

Quote

Keep a look out for exciting new opportunities to get Beta Test access! Your favorite FFXIV fan sites just might be able to help!

Unfortunately, we are not one of these sites. Not yet, anyway.


Beta impressions from 1UP!

1UP kicked off a bi-weekly series of FFXIV beta impressions, this time covering character creation, combat, and the starting areas in and surrounding Limsa Lominsa. Though similar articles covering similar aspects of the game have been abundant throughout Japanese media, it's nice to see a site such as 1UP jump on the bandwagon.

http://www.1up.com/d...age?cId=3180680

The article also includes 13 beautiful images which we have included below:

[Saeryne]

Good to hear about the server stabilitiy.

I love the minimalist HUD also. The texture detail on woven armour looks great.

[Kurisu]

All of the images really do look stunning! There seems to be some sort of visual improvement every time I see them. Of course I guess it depends where the screenshots come from, as peoples systems may be different from one another.

It's good news that server stability has improved! Will this ring true when the game launches properly? Only time will tell, I guess.

I'm starting to give up all hope on a PS3 Beta.

[Eorzea]

Well, it seems only the "big three" fansites will be provided with beta keys to give out to their members. Apparently, Square Enix does not feel our site to be of enough significance at this time.

That's alright, however. While it would be nice for our members, becoming the biggest community has never been the goal of this site. Our time will come.

Best of luck to any of you still chasing after beta.
Though really, the game is so close to release at this point that I see little point in spoiling it for yourselves.

For those of you interested in the other giveaways:

http://ffxiv.zam.com...tml?story=22920
http://www.eorzeaped...a-pass-contest/
http://www.ffxivcore...a-key-giveaway/