The road map for the beta version of FFXIV: A Realm Reborn has been announced by Square Enix. You can read it in full here:
http://gdl.square-enix.com/ffxiv/download/en/FFXIV_2.0_BETA_Roadmap_EN.pdf
The main things to note are that:
If you are a legacy member, IE have subscribed to FFXIV for at least 3 months, you will gain entry to phase 1 of the beta.
If you are an FFXIV account holder, you will gain access to the beta from phase 3.
Phase 4 is an open beta where anyone can join and characters transfer over to the retail version.
Don’t worry if you are not a legacy member or FFXIV account holder, you may still get into the beta earlier than these points via random e-mail invites. There is of course an element of luck here. The above points of entry just remove that luck.
Square Enix will be taking beta applications from sometime in January. No specific date has been announced. The beta is due to start in mid February and last 3-4 months depending on how it goes.
There is also a small note from Yoichi Wada and Naoki Yoshida about the road map which can be found here:
