Doesn't time fly by. It seems like just yesterday that we were visiting Korea looking for the best MMO that money can buy. And now its about to launch!!

On the morning of Monday the 20th of February the beta test for RF Online came to an end. The 24 hours following this are being used to clear out all of the data from the game servers (yes, that includes the character wipe) and to apply patches.

On Tuesday, you will start to see the box arriving on store shelves across the United States. You will be able to log in to the game from 3pm GMT on Tuesday the 21st. Three servers will be available initially. An additional server will be put online on Friday the 24th for the UK launch. The 5th server will be made available on the 10th of March, which is the date that the rest of Europe will receive the game.

Overall, we are very pleased with the outcome of the beta test. Obviously there have been issues, but that it what a beta test is all about, finding and fixing the problems. The bulk of problems that caused instability or forced us to take the servers offline were caused by a single issue with the way the login server and the accounts system were working. This was fixed on Friday and thoroughly tested over the weekend.

When you return to the game this week, you will see a lot of changes. The biggest area is the total revamp of the text in the game. You will see much improvement, from the interface, to the names and descriptions of the monsters, items, and NPC's.

The start of our live service also marks the start of our customer services support. Until now, the GM's you may have seen in the game have been training and learning about the game, their tools, and the common issues that players encounter. Full details of our customer service support are available now at www.rf-onlinegame.com/support.

While the patch that is now on the live servers addresses many issues, we are aware that there are still things that need to be fixed and balanced. As we are able to focus on the live service, patches will be more forthcoming and the issues will be corrected in a much more timely manner. We will soon make available a list of issues that we are working on, many of which have been found by the beta testers. You will be able to see the bug fixes and changes to the game through the patch notes we issue with each update.

Speaking of updates, RF Online is evolving at a fast pace and the future brings much promise. While we are careful about releasing information before it is ready, its no secret that there are plans for guild battle area's, further class changes, and extra-terrestrial exploration. Keep an eye on www.rf-onlinegame.com for all the information as its released.

Personally, I am looking forward to kicking back a bit and playing the game. I hope to see you there too.

Simon Humphreys
Producer