GC 2007 - 4Gamer Interview

[Elmer the Pointy]

GC 2007 the Annual Game Show: Interview with FFXI Producers Tanaka and Sundi


Source: http://www.4gamer.net/news.php?url=/new ... etail.html
Translated by: Elmer the Pointy
Posted on: BlueGartr

It goes without saying that 4Gamer and Square Enix make their headquarters in Japan, but Final Fantasy XI Producer Tanaka Hiromichi, and Global Online Producer Sage Sundi spend an overwhelming amount of time abroad. Sage Sundi tells us in the gaming industry, the foreign countries are less serious and demanding, so perhaps it’s a good thing. With that being the case, we met up at GC 2007 to ask a series of questions on various subjects. However, since only a month has passed since our E3 interview, new information on the expansion Wings of the Goddess was all but nonexistent. So we took the opportunity to ask about their development in Europe and plans for expanding into other global markets. We also discussed the upcoming event in Osaka this November, Final Fantasy XI – Altana Festival in Osaka, so those in the Kansai region should definitely take a look.

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About the European Market


4Gamer: We were considering skipping this interview since it’s been only one month since E3 Summit 2007 (laughs) How are you enjoying Germany?

Tanaka Hiromichi: Truthfully, I haven’t been able to see anything…
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4Gamer: You’ve certainly been busy this past year.

Tanaka: Starting tomorrow, it’s going to be very crowded, so you may want to look over our things before then. (This interview took place on Thursday, August 23rd. The convention was opened to the public that weekend.)
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4Gamer: That’s right, tomorrow and the next day have been extended by 2 hours each to 8pm. It gives people a lot more time to check out your booth but…

Sage Sundi: I think Ooya may collapse from exhaustion. (laughs)
(Ooya is part of the Square Enix Japanese event staff)
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4Gamer: Speaking of which, your booth is cycling Besieged demos and a Vana’diel Tour. How does it look?

Sundi: The response is pretty good. This time we get to show it on the German version.
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4Gamer: That’s right, last year you hadn’t released the German version yet.

Sundi: Yup, last time we had just the test server to show. Now it’s the officially released German version of the game. Also, we just released the new Starter Pack, which is a great deal.
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4Gamer: We asked about the expansion at E3, and it was said to be a 4.99 Euro package. When was this released? This is the 10 Euro area. There are lots of important titles that are fairly new.

Sundi: In Europe, it takes a little bit of time to adequately circulate a product, doesn’t it? It should have been lined up and ready for sale around last week. In German stores, you’ll find it in the “5 Euro Area.” (The low price title corner. As the name suggests, games here cost around 5 Euros)
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4Gamer: I see, so you’re going for a different set of customers with this release.

Sundi: That’s right. We are looking not just for FFXI fans (MMORPG fans) but “Final Fantasy fans” as well.
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4Gamer: So what customers have you been selling to?

Sundi: A lot of them have been Final Fantasy fans, like we thought.
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4Gamer: What about gender or age range?

Sundi: We get the results of that from our surveys we included with the package. (At this point, he points to his notebook computer screen.)

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Sundi: This is a graph of our survey results. (This is not available to the public, so forgive us for not showing the photo.)

Sundi: This is the age range. This area (points to 16-25 years old) is near 30%, the largest demographic. 26 years and up is about the same.
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4Gamer: Hey, 15 years and under is extremely small.

Sundi: People under 12 years old cannot play. In America, those under 14 years cannot play. Speaking of which, this is data from America. It’s just about the same.

4Gamer: You’re right. The 16-25 year old range is huge.

Sundi: Yes, but this is just for the Starter Pack.
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4Gamer: I thought the age range for Final Fantasy would be higher.

Sundi: Those players do exist.

Tanaka: These figures are especially for this package title.

Sundi: Here is the Japanese data. In Japan, there are many players over 23 years old.

4Gamer: Wow, a lot more than America.

Sundi: Perhaps it’s due to the Japanese version being 1980 yen.
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4Gamer: Are the contents the same?

Sundi: It’s the same deal. First you buy the pack, then you buy Registration Codes online. The European version is the full package. In Japan, it’s the All-in-One pack. You get just one registration code. After that, you buy more online. In North America we released the same pack as the European one month early.
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4Gamer: Are you thinking about selling any via download? It looked like there were talks with NTT.

Tanaka: We want to do a downloadable version, but the file size was so big.

4Gamer: How many GB?

Sundi: Almost 4 GB. We could maybe shave off 1 GB.

Tanaka: Even then it’s 3 GB. Still pretty huge. If we compressed it down, it would just add to the install time…
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4Gamer: I guess there’s nothing you can do, so let’s get back on track. What development plans do you have for Europe in the future?

Sundi: Right now, support for the German version is done out of America. However, this of course can cause some problems because native German speakers are rare. We want to make a local base for German support and are considering opening a center in Europe.
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4Gamer: You want it to manage all of Europe…?

Sundi: London may be a good neutral place we think, but well, we still have no idea. It’s more of a consideration than an actual plan. In America, it’ll always be secondary language. Customers want to talk to someone on their level. That’s why we’re thinking of future prospects to help the European market.
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4Gamer: What else are you considering?

Sundi: We want a solid, central fan site.

4Gamer: Are there none in Germany?

Sundi: There are a few, but we’re aiming for something different. Something more central. In Europe, there are mostly individual user sites. There are some sites with media and such, but no real MMO fan sites. It’s just a little different.
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4Gamer: Ah, I get what you’re trying to say. There are currently many of those in America, aren’t there?

Sundi: Yes, there certainly are. If you can read English, there are places to go, but there are barely any in German.
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4Gamer: Surprisingly, many people here don’t know English. Young people included. Yesterday, Jeff Hickman presented Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning and spoke in English. His presentation was great, but it seemed like few people understood him. He looked so lonely… (laughs)

Sundi: Yea, you’re right. That’s why we want to get a German Forum going any way that we can. That and some kind of local support. By the way, we always try to solicit help from local FFXI players at our GC booth. We’re thinking of using that as the base for our plans.
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About Expanding Final Fantasy XI Throughout the World


4Gamer: We’ve spoken with many different Producers and Marketing executives from different MMOs, and they all seem to say the intricacies of that country are too difficult to overcome. I’ve never heard that from you two. Surely there are some problems one can face.

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Tanaka: Of course, internally there is a huge system of programming and coding that must be changed to fit the specifics of the German and French languages. The program must be completely rewritten to fit the language and it’s quite a feat for the programmers. When we localized the game, it was “Change all of this into German,” and “Change all of this into French.” The Japanese version though, already had a lot of English mixed in, as to smooth the transition for the North American release. This made things a little inconvenient at first, and many players were annoyed.
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4Gamer: No matter where you localize to, there will be a lot of disputes like back in the day with Diablo II.

Tanaka: That’s right. Even the other day we received demands from a community to have certain items be in English. Having the NPC’s message and the Events and such in their native language was okay, but they said items and abilities should be in English.
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4Gamer: You can’t use a world-wide database for items.

Sundi: Everquest II had the same problems and prepared both ends.

4Gamer: Yes, that’s right.

Tanaka: It doesn’t mean it can’t be done, since you could just put in both versions of the item database locally.

Sundi: It would be best if we pushed to completely change everything like that, huh? (laughs)

4Gamer: Yea, that sounds great.

Sundi: That should be done to help communication. Currently, there are things you want to refer to that you can’t, for lack of what to call it.

(Elmer point: This previous portion was confusing and made me angry. Basically, they were discussing the difficulties of localizing a game and its massive database of items. It sounds like it’s best to have all names available to each version, and that’s what they did with the /translate function. So this was a little foreshadowing of that update, which seemed to come out of nowhere.)

4Gamer: How about changes other than text? For example, the issues with certain design elements?

Sundi: What do you mean?

4Gamer: As an MMORPG expands further into the world, its character designs may look strange, don’t you think? Maybe the face looks weird, or perhaps the color of their armor. Do you localize the graphics of a title as well?

Sundi: Hmm, we really don’t hear about that.

Tanaka: I’ve never heard of problems with that. It basically has the same theme as the Final Fantasy series up until now.
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4Gamer: Ah, in other words it’s set for the world of Final Fantasy.

Tanaka: That is correct. That’s why it’s easy to introduce into new areas. From the beginning, we designed characters that would look like Final Fantasy characters, and the results have been just fine.
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4Gamer: I see, what a wonderful image: A title that can be universally recognized and accepted. Are there other titles that have this appeal? Everquest II has an Far East version, for example.

Tanaka: It’s totally different in a foreign game though. Why do they try putting that into Everquest or World of Warcraft. It just seems like a poor imitation of East culture. (laughs)

4Gamer: That’s for sure. FFXI has that unique connection with the Final Fantasy series and is compatible with any country. Now, even with their language. Terms like ???(Cure) and ???(Heal) may become known all over the world.
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Tokyo, Osaka and Austin – About Future Events


4Gamer: I wonder if we’ll finally here something about “it.” You know, the next big thing. (laughs)

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Sundi: The next? Ah, the next MMO title, huh? We received a lot of questions about it here in Germany, but we’re not saying anything new.
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4Gamer: At E3, you said you were preparing the new engine. What progress has been made on that?

Tanaka: We’ll be working on it up through the end of September.

4Gamer: End of September… does that mean something will show up at the Tokyo Game Show? (September 20th – 23rd , 20 & 21 are business-only days)

Sundi: Are you fishing for an announcement?

4Gamer: Well, you’ll have more than just your logo there, right? (laughs)

Tanaka: Yeah. (laughs) But I don’t think it will be ready in time for the Tokyo Game Show. The presentation will have to wait a little longer.
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4Gamer: I understand. Let’s talk about November 3rd. The event in Osaka.

Sundi: Yes, on Culture Day. Final Fantasy XI – Altana Festival in Osaka.
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4Gamer: I heard rumors the entrance fee will be expensive.

Sundi: We never said anything like that. The American Fan Festival is 100 dollars and it’ll be less than that. Although that one is two days long.
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4Gamer: Have all the events been planned out?

Tanaka: They’re mostly done, but not announced yet. We’ll make an itinerary available on the main site soon.
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4Gamer: What are you thinking of doing?

Tanaka: Some live stuff… some surprises here and there… we wanted to do something big in the Kansai region for once.

Sundi: It is truly by the fans, for the fans, so our plans won’t encompass everything that goes on there.
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4Gamer: If the events are somewhat up in the air, people may not know if the price of admission is worth it.

Sundi: They won’t pay just to see Mr. Tanaka Hiromichi? (laughs)

Tanaka: Not a chance. (laughs) Still, attendees will receive gifts to take home, so we don’t think the price will be outlandish.

4Gamer: Oh? An item for the game?

Tanaka: Well, yes.

4Gamer: That sounds nice.

Sundi: Don’t get your hopes up. (laughs)

Tanaka: To tell you the truth, the Umeda Fine Arts Theater is quite expensive, so we aren’t expecting to make a profit. In fact, it’ll be a huge loss. The event will cost tens of millions of yen and even with a full house we won’t make back 20% of that.
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4Gamer: I see, so it’s really a nice service to the fans. Is this your first event in the Kansai region?

Tanaka: It’s really our first Fan Festival in the whole country. Until now, we just had the Tokyo Game Show and Square Enix Party.
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4Gamer: You’re right, now that you mention it. How many people are you expecting?

Sundi: Umm, we would like to see the assembly hall filled.
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4Gamer: Will Mr. Tanaka be holding another autograph session?

Tanaka: No, not this time. We are doing that at the GC 2007 Square Enix booth.
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4Gamer: It was very popular at last year’s GC, wasn’t it? What about this year?

Tanaka: I wonder.

Sundi: He’ll do it! We already posted the notice, so just accept it already. (laughs)

Tanaka: You seem pretty delighted.
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4Gamer: Last year, everyone approached with stars in their eyes, just to get your signature. (laughs) You’ll also be giving a lecture at the Austin Game Conference (A network game convention in Austin, Texas, USA. Runs September 5th – 7th )

Tanaka: That’s in just a week and a half. I better start writing my speech… I was actually writing a bit on the plane ride to Germany.

Sundi: He suddenly opened his eyes and said “I have to write!” and starting scribbling. (laugh)
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4Gamer: What are you planning to talk about?

Tanaka: As requested, I’ll discuss Final Fantasy XI as a cross-platform game.

Sundi: It will be how he sees Final Fantasy XI and what it will become.
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4Gamer: I’m sure 4Gamer readers will be interested.

Sundi: Hmm, what should we do? Should we let 4Gamer print it?

Tanaka: I think it’s stuff people already know. There will be a few number and figures that are updated, though. By the way, it will be difficult to do it all alone, so this guy (points to Sundi) is going to make an appearance as well.

Sundi: Please excuse that part, usually a keynote address is done solo. (laughs)

Tanaka: But I’d get lonely. (laughs)

Sundi: Then hurry and give me some stuff to say. (laughs)
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4Gamer: It’s just a week and a half away. And soon after that is the Tokyo Game Show. Sounds pretty hectic.

Sundi: Together, we can do it.
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4Gamer: How do you feel about the Tokyo Game Show?

Sundi: We’ll just show a Final Fantasy XI movie, but there will be new information as well.
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4Gamer: Aha! Anything about new jobs…?

Tanaka: No, no, we won’t tell you anything else right now.

4Gamer: Oh, jeez that sucks. Since you said that, I guess we’re not getting anything new today.
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A Little On the Future of Final Fantasy


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4Gamer: Now, a lot of readers are demanding some new information on Wings of the Goddess, so please forgive a few questions. At E3, you said you were 33% finished. What about now?

Tanaka: About 40%, I’d say.
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4Gamer: Oh, you progressed another 7%. Are you still on target?

Tanaka: Yes, we’re still looking at the “end of 2007.” Now, we’ve almost completed the maps, but next Tuesday (August 28th ) we have to finish the Version Update before we can really focus our full power on Wings of the Goddess.
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4Gamer: So your development speed should really pick up then. Will your movie at the Tokyo Game Show have a definitive month/day release date attached to it…?

Tanaka: I don’t know about that. (laughs) However, if we attach a date to the project, things start to get hectic as you get to that last week and last day before launch. In fact, The Pit that was planned for this update, won’t be ready in time.
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4Gamer: The Pit?

Sundi: Yes, an area for monsters to fight each other. It won’t be ready in time.

Tanaka: It will be two weeks late… it won’t make it in.

4Gamer: Whaaa??

Tanaka: No, no, it just needs adjustments. We won’t rest until it’s done. (laughs)
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4Gamer: I see… As for resting though, you probably already have no time to do that.

Tanaka: The whole company should have been on summer vacation, but…
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4Gamer: The development team sure works hard. Really, thank you for all your effort. To wrap up, please say something for the readers.

Tanaka: First, please enjoy the update on the 28th. Next, look forward to some new information at the Tokyo Game Show.

Sundi: And don’t miss Osaka.

4Gamer: Something’s happening in Osaka, isn’t it?

Sundi: You won’t get it out of me. (laughs) There may be some surprises.

Tanaka: Well, the event itself will be a sight to see. The stage will be lit up with performances to enjoy.

4Gamer: Sounds like an entertaining show. A lot different than the typical convention.

Sundi: It will have things like a Developer’s Panel, but it will also play out like a traditional festival with cultural events.

4Gamer: I understand. Well then, I look forward to seeing you at the Tokyo Game Show and in Osaka. Thank you very much for your time today.
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[Elmer the Pointy]

First, thanks to Thegilseller for pointing out this interview that was posted on 4Gamer.


So this interview isn't that exciting, I guess. It's almost like the guy knew not to ask any questions about the expansion. 4Gamer interviews are always fun to translate though, they seem a lot less robotic than others.

The only tl;dr tidbits are probably the hints of a Pit delay and /translate function, which ended up as surprises for us, and the confirmation of WotG info at the TGS.

Maybe some people will find it interesting to read a little more about Tanaka and Sundi and their opinions and plans for the game. If so, there's a lot for you to read up there.

So, just about 20 days left until we get some real, solid information. I'll be at the convention with cameras and laptop in tow, so I'm going to scout out every bit of info I can and relay it back here.

[BRP]

FIRS- OH WAIT DAMN

Thanks for the translation! Were these the guys that Bercus had competition over time with?

[Tomiko]

Thanks again Elmer and Thegilseller!

4Gamer: So your development speed should really pick up then. Will your movie at the Tokyo Game Show have a definitive month/day release date attached to it…?

Tanaka: I don’t know about that. (laughs) However, if we attach a date to the project, things start to get hectic as you get to that last week and last day before launch. In fact, The Pit that was planned for this update, won’t be ready in time.
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4Gamer: The Pit?

Sundi: Yes, an area for monsters to fight each other. It won’t be ready in time.

Tanaka: It will be two weeks late… it won’t make it in.

4Gamer: Whaaa??

Tanaka: No, no, it just needs adjustments. We won’t rest until it’s done. (laughs)
---

From that excerpt, it sounds like we'll have another patch in the middle of September. Safe to assume they'll do the "current issues" fixes then as well?

[Taj]

Tanaka and Sundi are so gay for eachother.

[Wizerd]

Thanks again Elmer and Thegilseller!

4Gamer: So your development speed should really pick up then. Will your movie at the Tokyo Game Show have a definitive month/day release date attached to it…?

Tanaka: I don’t know about that. (laughs) However, if we attach a date to the project, things start to get hectic as you get to that last week and last day before launch. In fact, The Pit that was planned for this update, won’t be ready in time.
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4Gamer: The Pit?

Sundi: Yes, an area for monsters to fight each other. It won’t be ready in time.

Tanaka: It will be two weeks late… it won’t make it in.

4Gamer: Whaaa??

Tanaka: No, no, it just needs adjustments. We won’t rest until it’s done. (laughs)
---

From that excerpt, it sounds like we'll have another patch in the middle of September. Safe to assume they'll do the "current issues" fixes then as well?

The grand opening of the Pit has been delayed to allow for further testing, and is currently scheduled for release on September 11.

[Kaylia]

Tanaka: Of course, internally there is a huge system of programming and coding that must be changed to fit the specifics of the German and French languages. The program must be completely rewritten to fit the language and it’s quite a feat for the programmers

I wonder how much they know about programming. It can't be that hard to port it to another language, when you already ported it to english

[Akiyama]

Tanaka and Sundi are so gay for eachother.

They wanted to jump up and hug!

Or something D:

[Not Kuno]

Good work translating but as usual sundi + co were lame as ever and didn't say anything.

[Zarath]

Tanaka: Of course, internally there is a huge system of programming and coding that must be changed to fit the specifics of the German and French languages. The program must be completely rewritten to fit the language and it’s quite a feat for the programmers

I wonder how much they know about programming. It can't be that hard to port it to another language, when you already ported it to english

I'd say it's prolly just time consuming than anything else. I can see it being very tedious, and somewhat annoying XD

[Ganalart]

Tanaka and Sundi are so gay for eachother.

Who can blame them? Sundi defines cute and Tanaka looks like he has a real firm hand, you know Sundi wants to be dominated.

[bercus]

FIRS- OH WAIT DAMN

Thanks for the translation! Were these the guys that Bercus had competition over time with?

No mine was on Wednesday, theirs on Thursday.
Btw thanks Elmer for translating this ^^ .

[The Stig]

Interesting read, thanks! Gotta love them Sage Sundi pictures though, they are begging to ripped the shit out of.

[Obev]

This thread provides many a "wut" photoshop opportunity. Many thanks!

[Tomiko]

The grand opening of the Pit has been delayed to allow for further testing, and is currently scheduled for release on September 11.

I come to BG for POL Announcements. So if there isn't a thread for it, I usually don't know about it.

Thanks for the heads up though.

[Rocl]

So, just about 20 days left until we get some real, solid information. I'll be at the convention with cameras and laptop in tow, so I'm going to scout out every bit of info I can and relay it back here.

Hurray! I was just saying to myself that I haven't heard anything about WoG for a while

[Dark Vincent]

The fact they have released so little info, and still dont have plans to release more anytime soon (specially about the new jobs) is kinda curious considering supposedly there is only 3 months before release of WotG.

[JoOeetheplatypuS]

So, just about 20 days left until we get some real, solid information. I'll be at the convention with cameras and laptop in tow, so I'm going to scout out every bit of info I can and relay it back here.

You are so awesome Elmer.

[Minions]

So, just about 20 days left until we get some real, solid information. I'll be at the convention with cameras and laptop in tow, so I'm going to scout out every bit of info I can and relay it back here.

You are so awesome Elmer.

I concur.

[Churchill]

I think the guy in my sig could spear Sundi and Tanaka.