[MMO] Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn Producer 8th Live Letter Summary

So the 8th Producer Live Letter just finished a while ago, and boy, was it a long one!

I am just going to summarise what was mentioned, major dates and announcements in this post for those who missed it.

Open Beta Phase 4 will be from the 17th August until 19th August. For those who were already in beta, it starts on the 16th. (Yay!)
Early access will be 24th August until 26th August, and there will be no down time. That means it will lead straight onto launch.
Open Beta/Phase 4 is capped at Level 20.
PVP will be in OP/P4 but is only available to Legacy players who already have level 50 characters. It seems they want to focus on testing higher level PVP.
Player Housing will be in available in P4 in Limsa Lominsa.

Arcanist will be available in OB/P4.
 - Arcanist will mainly be a DPS class.
 - It seems Arcanist won't be as strong as other DPS classes without taking advantage of Carbuncle.
 - Carbuncle can long range DPS.
 - Stat-wise is MND (Mind) based.

Scholar as we already know is a Healer.
It was said on the Live Letter that for a fully balanced 8-man group it is advised to have both a WHM and a SCH. So nobody is left out! ;)

They showed off Summoner a few of the Egi summons they already have. More Egi will be released when the level cap is reached.
Summoner stat-wise will be INT (Intellect) based.

Summoner rocking that awesome hat

Good news for PS3 players, in Phase 4 they will be adding a screenshot feature.

Gametime cards will be available. 30 days and 60 days.

There will be a World Transfer service available 2-3 weeks after launch.

There will be a smartphone app on iOS named, "Libra Eorzea". - Good news folks, it's free!
Yoshi-P mumbled something about Android, if I'm not mistaken, it will be available a few weeks after the iOS one is released.

You will be able to retry bosses/primals with the same group... I didn't catch much of this so I will update this when I know about it.

Barber shop in 2.1 patch! So you don't have to worry if you character isn't how you wanted it. You can change hair styles, hair colour, eye colour, beard, face tattoos and face paint/colour.

There will be seasonal gear for Summer/Christmas. They showcased a few off the items. Something about fire-resistance gear is vital for one of the events!

There was some information about Crystal Tower/Bahamut's Labyrinth.
 - Bahamut's Labyrinth will explain what happened on Behemoth's Attack. (Credits to @ffxiv_finn for this one - I missed this in stream but read it on their Twitter!)
 - Crystal Tower is a 24 man raid.
 - You will be able to use duty finder to group up for a raid.
 - Crystal Tower will be in patch 2.1 - something to look forward to!

UNICORN MOUNT
 - Have to complete Conjurer quest to get it
 - Can be used with other classes

A lot of cool items for the Housing system. I saw stuff like Tonberry lights and chocobo chairs!

Veteran Bonus Award System - get rewards based on how long you subscribe, rewards for 30 days, 60 days, 90 days and so on and so forth.

...and I think that is everything.
If I have missed anything out - let me know - I will add it in here.

Big thanks to the awesome FFXIV Community on Twitter who were constantly updating through the Live Letter! I missed some thing because I zoned out a few times and my brain couldn't process the Japanese quick enough. So thank you to all you guys on there!

I will edit this later with pictures and the like but yah - this is the summary for now! Hope it is helpful to someone. Be sure to check out other FF communities and Twitter because it will be available all over the place.

:)