[FFXIV_GamesCon]

Exclusive interview with FFXIV Producer Hiromichi Tanaka


First, thanks to everyone at Square Enix who met up with us at their business area at Gamescom. They were very nice and I have a great first impression of every single SE employee that I spoke with.

We entered a room with a big table (sort of a meeting room) and behind us there were a big LCD screen with the Final Fantasy XIV alpha on it. In the room there were a total of 5 SE employees. I visited together with the CEO from the Curse Network. Right now I don't have all the names, but they were all really cool to speak with and I have a whole new view of SE (not that it was bad previously) after this meeting, they all seem very passionate about their games and FFXIV is a game that a lot of effort, energy and time has been invested into. That's for sure! I feel even more anxious to play the game now. Well for longer than 15 minutes that is.

Below we have the results of player asked questions from FFXIVCore.com that was asked to Hiromichi Tanaka about FFXIV. Grab a cup of coffee or something nice, such as orange juice and please enjoy reading our exclusive interview with the producer of FFXIV himself.


In the alpha I wasn't able to jump, will there be jumping in FFXIV? And swimming? Maybe even climbing?

Its going to be the same as in FFXI. So currently there will be no jumping. If its necessary we might add swimming and climbing in the future.


What measures will be taken to combat RMT and botting?

We're going work hard on it, same as in FFXI with the task force. Also for example, at the moment we're trying to add a filter in FFXI to combat it on the spot, instead of waiting for a patch in order to combat the issues. It will be more flexible.


How will the story be told? Powerful story is an essential part of the FF-series, and as far as the producers have said it will be important in XIV as well.

Yes the story is defiantly very important for FF14. We will have high quality cutscenes with voiceovers and fx, please look forward to it.

There will also be voiceovers on mostly every character/npc in the game.


What will endgame be like? Special areas, NMs, etc.

Maybe not from the beginning, but when it comes to a good time we will be implementing some very challenging encounters, among other things. We will have a level cap at the beginning, when it will be unlocked in due time we will release great raid content. We've learned a lot from FFXI and realized what is too easy and too hard.


Exactly how much more casual will FF XIV be than FF XI? Is FF XIV designed to try to appeal to a new casual crowd and leave the hardcore group players in FF XI? Is FF XIV trying to attract both at the same time and try to become the first historical game that successfully combines hardcore and casual aspects?

The first question about the casual aspect. We will have a casual aspect, but we're not going to only target the casual players. Its really a users choice. We will be able to provide a variety of aspects to the game that casual players will enjoy but the hardcore players will enjoy it as well. And also for FFXI and FFXIV we aim to support both players, although FFXIV is using a new graphics engine, so we're providing current FFXI players with an option if they want to play FFXI of course that is fine, but they're also very welcome to play FFXIV.

Hiromichi Tanaka also says that it would be very nice if the players of other Final Fantasy games who never played FFXI would play FFXIV. So that is one of the goals.

So basically they're aiming at the Final Fantasy fans who haven't played MMO's due to having a casual aspect of FFXIV, but also at the same time giving the hardcore MMO players something to enjoy as well.


What about PVP?

We have the same stance on PVP as we had in FFXI, we're having a focus on PVE, but we may introduce some sort of sports-type that might be tied to PVP in the future. What we're worrying about is that we dont want to have any PK'ing or harassment types of activities in the game. So in order to provide a safe environment to everyone and a game to enjoy. So we're not focusing on PVP.


Pay to play or free to play?

The game will cost to play. There's a fee for 30 days each. Currently there are no other plans to offer other options.


No PlayOnline, can you elaborate on the new account features?

We will be using the SquareEnix ID, and also have a system that will be linked to that system.


Is there going to be instanced content?

Guild leaves itself is like instances. Other people will not be able to interfer with you. There will also be instanced raid content, its a type of guild leaves as well. But we cannot tell you how many players it will be yet however. There's also going to be many different types of guild leaves, if you want to play as a casual player it will be fine for instance.


Can you give more specific details about what things can we customize in character creation? I mean things like body size, how many faces will there be available?

Unfortunately we cannot show you the character creation screen yet, but you will be able to change things such as your ears, eyes, hair color, shape of your face. There will be lots of variety.


I'm curious about how advancing in your jobs works. Like will it be a FF Tactics style? Once you've mastered certain skills in a certain job, you unlock another?

It will be slightly different from Final Fantasy Tactics system. You will be gaining abilities by leveling up your skills, but, its not the same as Final Fantasy Tactics. So if you're having a high skill in something it doesnt mean the other one is going to be lower. if you grow in one skill and it gets high, you can still level up your other skills high.


And how will the 'levels' of the mobs work? Does the game have some kinda system in place to adjust mob difficulty based on character stats and current status of party?

Its not going to be changing depending on the players skills. Its fixed. So you get to chose yourself who or what you want to fight.


Auto-run/Auto-follow and Macros saved A LOT of time in FFXI. Could we expect these things (or improved/altered versions) in FFXIV?

Yes it will be in the game.


In FFXI, if you weren't fighting or crafting, there was definitely a lack of things to do. Could we expect more types of things to do in FFXIV? More mini-games, casino, card games like in FFVIII or FFIX, more in-depth gardening/fishing/etc. ?

Yes, we're planning several things so you can enjoy the game, for example the fishing you mention will be a class. But outside of the class system there will be other things to do. For example during FFXI players figured out a way to invent a new game by using the existing system. So that's going to be interesting, we'd like to do that for FFXIV as well. So we're looking forward to what the players will do with our system there.


There were many Summons in FFXI, but for an online world, I never felt there were enough. What Summons can we expect to see in FFXIV and will there be more variety than in FFXI?

We can't really mention which summons will be in. But what we can say is that some is going to be really important in the storyline. It's not going to be included in the game like FFXI. At the moment we don't really have a class, a pet class / summoner. Not at the moment at least. So it will be implemented in the game in a different way. Please check back with us in the future.


Will there be Samuari's in the game, what about the free roaming? What about the freedom in the world, exploration?

We won't have the samuari as a job, because we don't have a job system. And we don't have a class like the Samuari. But it depends on how you're going to select your skills and developing your character. So when you reach a certain skill and/or gain certain skills, you will have a title for yourself. It may be Samuari or may not be - we cannot tell you that yet. So please look for an announacement in the future.


How large will the in-game world of Eorzea be in comparison to the in-game world of Vana'Diel? As in actual space the characters may move around in.

We can't really compare to the current world of Vana'Diel since it's been expanding a lot. But if we compare to the original Vana'Diel, this time it may be the same or slightly smaller, however as you can see there will be a much more detailed world, in terms of graphics and content. So it's unlikely you will notice that it might be slightly smaller than the original Vana'Diel world.

One thing to note is that FFXI used its own system, this time Final Fantasy XIV is going to be seamless. No zoning! Just like in World of Warcraft.

You'll be able to walk from the city to the battlefield without any zoning.


Is the Economic situation of FFXIV going to be mainly player based with Auction Houses or non-player based with NPC ran stores?

We can't go into details about this just yet. We're very sorry about that. This question is better suited to be asked in a couple of months time. However, it's going to be not the same as with auctionhouses, but something very interesting.

Also, this time the weapons are going to be worn out, a durability system. So you will have to repair them and it will cost money.


When is the beta? Any more info?

We dont have any specific time at the moment. But this current version here at Gamescom is an alpha version. And before we start the beta we're going to have another version, a developer version, this time we're concentrating on guild leaves, next time we're going to be concentrating on something else. When it's ready we'll start the beta version. And of course since we're going to launch the game in 2010 it should before that... so. The beta is not going to be in the far future *laughs* We want to do it as soon as possible.


In World of Warcraft, you can now pay a very small fee of in game currency at a Barber Shop and change the face, hairstyle, facial hair, and hair color. Will we see this in FFXIV?

At the moment we're not thinking about it. If we have a lot of requests from the players it might get added at a later time. Not at the launch time at least. In the future perhaps. Also we don't think changing the skin color or face shape is going to be added at all. But maybe hair color.


Can we expect exp loss?

We're still adjusting and discussing this. It may or may not be an exp-loss when you die in FFXIV. But it will be a lot less than it's in FFXI. However, as said we might not include an exp loss at all in FFXIV. In the alpha version we have exp loss currently, but this is still being adjusted, since it's an alpha version. So it's not decided on.


Is the characters we played in the alpha version yesterday buffed?

[They all start out and laugh then proceeds to say]: yes, they're very buffed.


Will the class/job system go into more depth and branch out into different combinations. Or is a wider variety of jobs not yet released and still currently in development?

It's not a job system anymore. We call it classes now. It depends on what weapon you use. And again, we're calling it a class system in FFXIV this time, so it's not a job system. This new system will allow for a lot flexibility, and also because you can switch weapons between the battles (not during battles) this is giving you much more variety. Although this is not something super new in the history of MMO's, we've seen it before in games like Ultima Online and Meridian 59 (editors note).


[We're now at the end of our 45 minutes time with Hiromichi Tanaka and we get told there's only space to ask one more question, I show them all the questions I have left and we all laugh, because there's lots left to still ask, however we're offered to ask them through email, so expect more information to go up in awhile from now]


Will the Linkshell system still be called "Linkshell"?

We can't go into details on that just yet, but it's not going to be called Linkshell anymore. However, it's going to be something very interesting. You'll be able to join a kind of organization, but we can't say more on that right now, you'll be able to have different aims and focuses. It'll be very interesting.


System Requirements?

We're not done with analyzing this just yet, but it's going to be fairly high since FFXIV is going to be on HD on Playstation 3.

[phunk]

How large will the in-game world of Eorzea be in comparison to the in-game world of Vana'Diel? As in actual space the characters may move around in.

We can't really compare to the current world of Vana'Diel since it's been expanding a lot. But if we compare to the original Vana'Diel, this time it may be the same or slightly smaller, however as you can see there will be a much more detailed world, in terms of graphics and content. So it's unlikely you will notice that it might be slightly smaller than the original Vana'Diel world.

One thing to note is that FFXI used its own system, this time Final Fantasy XIV is going to be seamless. No zoning! Just like in World of Warcraft.

You'll be able to walk from the city to the battlefield without any zoning.

Just waiting for the FFXI Defense Force to roll in here and pick that quote apart.



Anyways ,

I can not wait for this game now, I'm excited to see this world come to life now seeing on how we can just walk anywhere without having to zone. One of the first things I did when I first played FFXI was explore and I think I'll be stuck doing the same thing.

When is the beta? Any more info?

We dont have any specific time at the moment. But this current version here at Gamescom is an alpha version. And before we start the beta we're going to have another version, a developer version, this time we're concentrating on guild leaves, next time we're going to be concentrating on something else. When it's ready we'll start the beta version. And of course since we're going to launch the game in 2010 it should before that... so. The beta is not going to be in the far future *laughs* We want to do it as soon as possible.

I hope we'll see a beta before November or at least word of it. Probably press first and then public stress test.

Is the Economic situation of FFXIV going to be mainly player based with Auction Houses or non-player based with NPC ran stores?

We can't go into details about this just yet. We're very sorry about that. This question is better suited to be asked in a couple of months time. However, it's going to be not the same as with auctionhouses, but something very interesting.

Also, this time the weapons are going to be worn out, a durability system. So you will have to repair them and it will cost money.

This has me excited as well, it looks like repairing weapons is the craft to go with from the start!


Thanks again for the post!

[Velhart]

So much new info has been given to me, yet i'm still confused like hell, haha.

Very promising, this is going to be a long year.

[Kandi_]

I'll get the game and all, but seriously, who is SE trying to appeal to? they add features like quests for those who dislike FFXI, but then refuse to think of anything that inst FFXI.

idk if u get what im trying to say, since i dont know to word it.

Im one to dislike how ppl jump in WoW, and just jump jump jump, for no reason, but something WoW (as far as i know) hasnt done anything with, other than ONE single fight, is make jumping more part of the gameplay. like, maybe fights u need to jump from platform to platform, or just dungeons in general. (FFXI is the only MMO, that i know of atm, which had dungeons u need to drop down to lower floors and such, to get around, while games like wow, its almost straight forward the whole way.) it seemed they didnt think to use a basic in game function, other than 1 fight, that was created years later.
FFXI did a great job trying to use a limited system, and coming up with interesting ideas to beat fights, but because FFXI was so limiting, theres only so much.

if they add MORE than what FFXI had, (not the best example, since jumping will cause ppl to say, omg not wow!) there can be just that much more to unique ideas added.

but at least they did leave off with a maybe on swimming and climbing. which still shows they could think to add more to the base of the game.

but back on topic, no matter what news comes out, if i say whats been shown/said, no non FFXI player would get so excited to play, they would quit playing their current MMO, where they are max level, doing the "fun" endgame parts, and not grinding to max level.
for those of us, who have played MMOs, we need a bit more reason to start that grind all over again.... u know... fun...

atm im more looking forward to just playing more of FFXI, since im already past the grind.

for now i can either hope theres a card up their sleeve, or the story is so bitchin, it will keep us hooked until we reach max level.

(seamless zones i saw as "potentially bad" but it does mean there might be further potential out of it, like those mini flying machines, for air combat.)

[phunk]

Jumping isn't a necessity, however I think SE would put it to good use.

I'd love to have to use, jumping, swimming and climbing to explore the environment or even having to scale a cliff or mountain in another area to reach a sought after NM.

The possibilities are endless, but I don't see them just adding things because MMO A has it or MMO B has it. SE usually have been the innovators when it comes to gameplay in RPGs so I'd expect to see a new take on it.

[Kandi_]

Jumping isn't a necessity, however I think SE would put it to good use.

I'd love to have to use, jumping, swimming and climbing to explore the environment or even having to scale a cliff or mountain in another area to reach a sought after NM.

The possibilities are endless, but I don't see them just adding things because MMO A has it or MMO B has it. SE usually have been the innovators when it comes to gameplay in RPGs so I'd expect to see a new take on it.

your right, Jumping isn't a necessity, i just see jumping and other options, to have so much potential, and it just seems SE isnt noticing these possibilities, because they might be as head strong as they were when FFXI 1st came out, when they said jobs wernt unbalanced, etc.

i just dont like where this is going, more so than saying its a 100% going to suck.

might turn out fine.

as long as they dont make a repeat with their "its my way or the highway... oh shit, we lost customers, ok time to change things!"

and no im not saying this because GAME A has said feature, or GAME B has it, but also excluding something because GAME A or GAME B has it, is equally as bad.

if you see a possibility, it should be fair to assume you should take advantage of it. this applies to all game creators.

[phunk]

your right, Jumping isn't a necessity, i just see jumping and other options, to have so much potential, and it just seems SE isnt noticing these possibilities, because they might be as head strong as they were when FFXI 1st came out, when they said jobs wernt unbalanced, etc.

i just dont like where this is going, more so than saying its a 100% going to suck.

might turn out fine.

as long as they dont make a repeat with their "its my way or the highway... oh shit, we lost customers, ok time to change things!"

and no im not saying this because game A has it, or GAME B has it, but also excluding something because GAME A or GAME B has it, is equally as bad.

I see your point, but keep in mind its still a Q&A based on the alpha that they premiered at GC so for all we know the final product may or may not even have half of the features we saw.

Should probably wait until you actually have the game in your PS3/PC to kind of start worrying about anything regarding the game.

Its like Ase said in another thread, we as fans, subscribers, whatever you'd like to call it asked for all of these "improvements" through complaining over the years. SE is just trying to do some fan service by giving us what we wanted while keeping the essence of the Final Fantasy series.

[Velhart]

It would be neat to use a Jump system that was somewhat implied into X-2, where certain ledges had you hit the "O" button to leap to the next edge. Not a necessity, but would bring a more realistic approach to area exploration.

But for the most part, SE is proving very well that this game is "not" FFXI. So it looks like not everyone is going to jump on the FFXIV bandwagon and likely a balance of community between the two. But its only speculation.

[kowen]

It would be neat to use a Jump system that was somewhat implied into X-2, where certain ledges had you hit the "O" button to leap to the next edge.

I don't know if you've seen it, but the jumping system in XIII would work well too. There would be a small glowing circle in front of an obstruction (like boxes or debris) and if you ran through it, Lightning would jump over or on top of it.

[Corrderio]

Meh, kinda vague about endgame though it shouldn't be too bad hopefully.

Anyway kinda worried about system specs now. I was hoping since my computer was only a little under 2 years old I'd be fine, but looks like I'll need to make some upgrades ><

[Ezekial]

#1 http://www.gametrailers.com/video/gc-09-final-fantasy/54468
Magic and Melee

#2 http://www.gametrailers.com/video/gc-09-final-fantasy/54444
Character Animation

#3 http://www.gametrailers.com/video/gc-09-final-fantasy/54448
Lalafell Gameplay

Figured this would fit in here for anyone that wants to see what it actually looks like. Dunno if it's been posted elsewhere.

[Velhart]

I don't know if you've seen it, but the jumping system in XIII would work well too. There would be a small glowing circle in front of an obstruction (like boxes or debris) and if you ran through it, Lightning would jump over or on top of it.

Your absolutly right, I feel dumb for not remembering that, haha. Yea, XIII's leaping system would be perfect.

Remember when I played the demo, it took me a while to figure out there was a circle there to leap.

[Kandi_]

actually that jumping system isnt too bad either. could still work in an MMO for many purposes.

also easy to add in, compared to a full blow jump system, if added after release.

[Agena]

Hype Factor -5.


No Jumping
No PvP
No Jobs


Give us what we want SE, WE want to Jump, we want a sort of Ballista worthy PVP off the bat, we want these "Classes" to more accurately reflect the classical "Jobs".


Also for the moment after watching the video I'm not impressed with the so called "Super Polished" graphics,

1. The monsters attack at the exact same time I expect that to be changed. I would like a system inplace so as to were monsters get their attack delays randomly shorter or longer then each other.
2. you can easier then ever run through players and monsters. Atleast in FFXI you had to press into them for a second before you could walk through them in the video it's like they are not there at all.

[Inform-me]

Im one to dislike how ppl jump in WoW, and just jump jump jump, for no reason, but something WoW (as far as i know) hasnt done anything with, other than ONE single fight, is make jumping more part of the gameplay. like, maybe fights u need to jump from platform to platform, or just dungeons in general. (FFXI is the only MMO, that i know of atm, which had dungeons u need to drop down to lower floors and such, to get around, while games like wow, its almost straight forward the whole way.)

Karazhan among other dungeons in WoW did not REQUIRE jumping down to a lower platform or up on a ledge to get around trash mobs but gave experienced groups an advantage over a bunch of casual players that somehow thought they had the ability to raid.



I have high hopes for this game but at the same time I have some aching doubts with this falling back into XI's failure to evolve.

1 - No pet class-ability-thingy? Seriously SE? There are a large amount of MMO players who enjoy the idea of a slave to do their fights for them while they sit back cackling. Not that SE has ever been that great at balancing pet classes to be useful. I would refuse to use WoW Hunters and Warlocks as examples due to the anti WoW mood of the forum, but they both make perfect examples of a slaved monster and magical summoner capable of being badass in a fight. Necromancers back in the old Diablo 2 days also come to mind.

2 - Durability on Weapons? Great one more thing we will have to be anal about to out damage our competition, but I can deal with it.

3 - Finally, instanced endgame, no more fighting 150 people over a stupid winged lizard's sword, now we will only have to fight with our own group for it.

4 - PvP: Just give us an instance where you can get into a party and enter together, then all be tagged as mobs to each other. Don't make us play some stupid minigame with throwing pebbles at rooks to try to show off our skills...

5 - 3rd Party Programs: This has yet to be addressed, but I personally hope we can have some support from the dev team for 3rd party program makers.

6 - Endgame support, specifically voice communication for linkshells/guilds, the ability to give and receive orders instantly and coordinate with each other was not possible in XI due to PS2 players or 360 players not being capable of using Ventrilo or TeamSpeak, the PS3 has headsets, so would an in-game voice system for endgame be too much to ask for?

7 - FTA: "we don't have a class like the Samuari. But it depends on how you're going to select your skills and developing your character. So when you reach a certain skill and/or gain certain skills, you will have a title for yourself. It may be Samuari or may not be - we cannot tell you that yet." Praise God, Allah, Buddah, Shiva, and the Flying Spaghetti Monster!!! Please SE, learn that sucking off one section of the community while claiming to balance all of the community does not actually fool players, don't make this mistake with one of the new classes, where XI had 4/5 wanted damage dealers of the umpteen in the game.

[Griss]

yea i am slightly bummed about the no pet jobs thing. i am one of the aforementioned people who like to sit back and cackle as a minion does my dirty work.

other then that every thing else has me psyched about 14. i really like the idea of instancing quests. and i am almost jumping for joy of the seamless world. and a double woot for voiced npc's as long as it is accompanied by text on screen. (so if i find most of the voice actors to be horrible i can mute them and still know what the hell is going on)

[Twinblades]

Hype Factor -5.


No Jumping
No PvP
No Jobs


Give us what we want SE, WE want to Jump, we want a sort of Ballista worthy PVP off the bat, we want these "Classes" to more accurately reflect the classical "Jobs".


Also for the moment after watching the video I'm not impressed with the so called "Super Polished" graphics,

1. The monsters attack at the exact same time I expect that to be changed. I would like a system inplace so as to were monsters get their attack delays randomly shorter or longer then each other.
2. you can easier then ever run through players and monsters. Atleast in FFXI you had to press into them for a second before you could walk through them in the video it's like they are not there at all.

If you want more of defined job system, stick to FFXI or WoW. No one is gonna force you to play XIV. Also, this game is still in the alpha stages of development, so there is still much to be changed and refined.

Also, not everyone wants those things. Jumping gets annoying because people will do it constantly. It is just not that important, and will not be missed if it doesn't make the final cut.

I don't want a Ballista PvP system, more like an arena. I want to fucking kill people, not throw fucking pebbles in a floating rock. Making it instanced is even better, but I don't think they should add it right off the bat, since people will still be leveling and only focusing on that.

What I'm really excited about is the streamless gameplay. I mean, not having to zone is wonderful. Makes for a more enjoyable experience I think, as well as possibilities for MPKing Nyahaha

[phunk]

I don't want a Ballista PvP system, more like an arena. I want to fucking kill people, not throw fucking pebbles in a floating rock.

I think that should be the official description of Ballista.

[_Vivik_]

What will endgame be like? Special areas, NMs, etc.

Maybe not from the beginning, but when it comes to a good time we will be implementing some very challenging encounters, among other things. We will have a level cap at the beginning, when it will be unlocked in due time we will release great raid content. We've learned a lot from FFXI and realized what is too easy and too hard.

Wach them make 1/2 the NM's AV class and call us retarded!

Is there going to be instanced content?

Guild leaves itself is like instances. Other people will not be able to interfer with you. There will also be instanced raid content, its a type of guild leaves as well. But we cannot tell you how many players it will be yet however. There's also going to be many different types of guild leaves, if you want to play as a casual player it will be fine for instance.

What?

I'm curious about how advancing in your jobs works. Like will it be a FF Tactics style? Once you've mastered certain skills in a certain job, you unlock another?

It will be slightly different from Final Fantasy Tactics system. You will be gaining abilities by leveling up your skills, but, its not the same as Final Fantasy Tactics. So if you're having a high skill in something it doesnt mean the other one is going to be lower. if you grow in one skill and it gets high, you can still level up your other skills high.

Sounds intreaging!

In FFXI, if you weren't fighting or crafting, there was definitely a lack of things to do. Could we expect more types of things to do in FFXIV? More mini-games, casino, card games like in FFVIII or FFIX, more in-depth gardening/fishing/etc. ?

Yes, we're planning several things so you can enjoy the game, for example the fishing you mention will be a class. But outside of the class system there will be other things to do. For example during FFXI players figured out a way to invent a new game by using the existing system. So that's going to be interesting, we'd like to do that for FFXIV as well. So we're looking forward to what the players will do with our system there.

I must of missed somthing out here???

There were many Summons in FFXI, but for an online world, I never felt there were enough. What Summons can we expect to see in FFXIV and will there be more variety than in FFXI?

We can't really mention which summons will be in. But what we can say is that some is going to be really important in the storyline. It's not going to be included in the game like FFXI. At the moment we don't really have a class, a pet class / summoner. Not at the moment at least. So it will be implemented in the game in a different way. Please check back with us in the future.

Fuck you no summons!!

Will there be Samuari's in the game, what about the free roaming? What about the freedom in the world, exploration?

We won't have the samuari as a job, because we don't have a job system. And we don't have a class like the Samuari. But it depends on how you're going to select your skills and developing your character. So when you reach a certain skill and/or gain certain skills, you will have a title for yourself. It may be Samuari or may not be - we cannot tell you that yet. So please look for an announacement in the future.

Fuck you no Samuari/Ninja/Monk!!

Will the class/job system go into more depth and branch out into different combinations. Or is a wider variety of jobs not yet released and still currently in development?

It's not a job system anymore. We call it classes now. It depends on what weapon you use. And again, we're calling it a class system in FFXIV this time, so it's not a job system. This new system will allow for a lot flexibility, and also because you can switch weapons between the battles (not during battles) this is giving you much more variety. Although this is not something super new in the history of MMO's, we've seen it before in games like Ultima Online and Meridian 59 (editors note).

Fuck you no Samuari/Ninja/Monk!!

the rest i dont care about!!

[_Tarel_]

Jumping would be a nice feature, climbing, swimming, hell even diving.. all to search for hidden areas or treasure would be a nice touch but I'm still more than happy with what they have planned.
No zoning lol thank god! We all can agree on that one.
Also that endgame answer was great. I'm glad they'll have even greater endgame challenges than on XI. Also, knowing that our "levels" are going to have some kind of temporary limit is also good news. Yeah, I'm even more psyched up about this.


Edit Forgot about no "samurai"... seriously a blow below the belt to me personally.