Letter from the Producer, IV (02/28/2011)

[sruon]

http://lodestone.finalfantasyxiv.com...449d1b7c37eb49

Hello again, FINAL FANTASY XIV fans. As always, I hope you are all enjoying your adventures in Eorzea.

I have a confession to make—I hate planes. And I'm using "hate" in the strongest sense of the word here. Call me old-fashioned, but I never saw the flight of man as anything but a mathematical impossibility. Just looking out the window, I can tell these wings definitely aren't big enough! And yet here I am, writing my fourth letter at 30,000 feet. Why? Well, because FFXIV is a global endeavor, and after the recent changes to the development team, it's fallen to me to head to our offices in L.A. and London to give everybody the lowdown on the game's new direction, milestones, etc. I'll also be having a couple of interviews with representatives from some fan sites, which I hope will allow players in regions outside of Japan the opportunity to get to know me a little better.

Meanwhile, the rest of the team is safe on Japanese soil, wrapping up preparations for patch 1.16. This patch brings the long-awaited introduction of sidequests, and our localization staff has been hard at work putting their final touches on their translations in order to bring you an unforgettable linguistic experience. We originally intended for 1.16 to go live before the end of February, but unfortunately I had to make the decision to delay its release for a few days to allow our Quality Assurance teams in North America and Europe sufficient time to perform all the necessary testing, rather than rush a release of content that was not of an acceptable quality. I understand your frustration, but ask that you bear with us just a little longer.

Regarding the frequent World crashes affecting many of you, patch 1.15b introduced a measure to help address this issue. While there has been a dramatic decrease in the number of crashes, we're aware the issue has yet to be fully resolved, and so our team is continuing its efforts to improve server stability.

And now for a bit of good news! The official forums mentioned in previous posts are almost ready, with a beta version of the site ready for launch on Tuesday, March 8! Our original plan was to release a preliminary version in March that featured limited functionality, but thanks to the diligence of our web team, it looks like we'll be able to release a beta version that will closely resemble the final product. I'll be writing a message to kick off the forums, and I'm looking forward to reading all your posts. (^-^)v

Turbulence? Really!? Is the pilot trying to make me soil myself!?

To help me forget how much I hate being on planes, let me try and calm my nerves with a couple new concept designs...

http://static.finalfantasyxiv.com/to...bbb8b730bb6677

Evil armor!? (name definitely not official)
From left to right (more or less):

• Widen hemline in cute fashion
• Make the ankle slimmer than usual in the vein of Amano
• Evil Armor – Finalized
• Visor hinge here
• Roegadyn
• Male
• Female
• Miqo'te
• Ears extended to sides for Hyur. Back same pattern as front
• Miqo'te Tail

http://static.finalfantasyxiv.com/to...d05abbe05968ef

Black mage!?

From left to right (more or less):

• Black Mage Armor – Finalized
• Hat material is straw or leather or undecided
• Hyur male
• Race-specific characterisics
• Elezen male ears
• When black, have hat worn low on face
• Lower than normal position
• Miqo'te ears
• Miqo'te tail
• Lalafell male ears
• Hat in default position, center of the brim is slightly upturned

As some of you may have guessed, both of these are designs for some of the new items I spoke of in my last letter. As stated in the last Players' Poll, we are currently working on class-specific equipment. Though the above designs are finalized, we still have to tailor and model them to each of the five races. So while I can't promise an immediate release, I promise that the wheels of progress are in motion.

For those of you worried that your favorite class or current rank won't be represented—don't be. We're working on more than just high-level gear, and plan to gradually release items for various ranks over the course of the next year. Keep a keen eye fixed on coming patch notes to see if your class is next!

Also, in my next letter I plan to explain the "introduction of new synthesis concepts" bit from last month in a little more detail.

And finally, the second Players' Poll has come to a close. As with the first, the turnout was overwhelming, with tens of thousands of users taking the time to make their voices heard. We've compiled all the data and begun to analyze it, but I've chosen to hold off revealing the raw data and my personal interpretations of the numbers until after patch 1.16 goes live. Please understand, patch content is our top priority, and the decision to temporarily delay the unveiling of the poll results was made in order to ensure the quickest possible patch release. But fret not! The data will be made available in a few days.

That's all I've got for now. Until next time, I wish you all the best in your Eorzean endeavors.

Talk to you all again in a few days! (^-^)

FINAL FANTASY XIV Producer & Director, Naoki Yoshida

[Hiroishime]

nice BLM and DRK outfit (^-^)
i didnt know Yoshi-P takes part in designing process though, i guess that is pretty cool

i just hope the official forums doesn't turns into flame wars.. (^-^)
looking forward to new synthesis concept, spamming standard for hours isnt fun at all. if anything, it encourages bots (^-^)

[Burningthought]

I know I seem to say it every time, but I seriously like this guy. I'm kinda shocked that 1.16 is gonna be out super soon too. I expected "SE time" to kick in and have us wait till the end of march.

[Tomino]

These new designs are great (as expected) by I wonder how they'll work them together with the actual class lore...
The Dark armour could be Marauder, but Marauders are pirates from LL so that doesn't work much.

And Black Mages.. should they tie that to Conjurers, then you would have them curing which sounds quite odd...

Not to mention, if they really rework Gladiators into Paladins, their class quests would turn quite inappropriate since they're all Colosseum based.

[Alkar]

So which class is going to turn into Dark Knight? Hopefully this means that class uniqueness is getting addressed very soon.

[Alkar]

EDIT: Sorry, double post.

[Hyan]

These new designs are great (as expected) by I wonder how they'll work them together with the actual class lore...
The Dark armour could be Marauder, but Marauders are pirates from LL so that doesn't work much.

And Black Mages.. should they tie that to Conjurers, then you would have them curing which sounds quite odd...

Not to mention, if they really rework Gladiators into Paladins, their class quests would turn quite inappropriate since they're all Colosseum based.

If Gladiators become Paladins, you bet Marauder and Conjurer are going to get the same treatment.

So which class is going to turn into Dark Knight?

I guess they could and will do a bit more tweaking than a straight class>class transition. Con can very well split into two classes with some spells taken from thm for example.

[Alkar]

Well yes, that's what I was talking about. Obviously no class in the game can be classified as Dark Knight or Black Mage right now.
There needs to be quite a few changes and additions to create these two classes and you can bet whatever you want that White Mage, Red Mage, Thief, Monk and Warrior are all in line.
I just hope they remember about Summoner while they're at it lol.

[Hyan]

Yeah, what happens to guilds? I guess if they make a "Warrior" job from say, mar and gla template they could inherit the colosseum lore. Thief can be the gambler, pirate can be corsair or something. PLD and DRK at least need their own quests for sure. Maybe monk as well. What's LNC lore about?

Also the fact that he wanted to get the patch out before the end of Feb., I wonder if it was supposed to be second of the 2 patches per month? Who knows.

[Toth]

That BLM armor has me super excited.

[Vice-Admiral von Titsling]

Those armors look fantastic. I like the belt swag on that Black Mage considerably.

The sensation of actually liking a Final Fantasy MMO head instead of either disregarding or disliking him is new and exciting. How quixotic.

I have come to the conclusion that Yoshida wasn't kidding when he told that French interviewer that he doesn't have to sleep.

[Elcura]

I don't get the big deal with traditional names. You can create the same class identity with the current names as you could with traditional names. Hell, you'd be creating new identities, and have the freedom to not be shoe-horned into certain designs/looks.

Seems like a dumb move to me.

Don't get me wrong, the armour looks awesome, but is a name change really necessary?

[Alkar]

I think he simply wants to show that this game will be different from the original vision which is a good thing. Traditional names just help giving the game a FF feel.
FFXI showed that even using traditional names and classes you can come up with interesting ideas and concepts as well as creating new looks (see Blue Mage).
I never liked Thaumaturge and Conjurer to begin with. I barely even notice any difference when switching to either class.

[Hyan]

Don't get me wrong, the armour looks awesome, but is a name change really necessary?

I agree with you, but I think this change stems from the JP communitys complaining more-so than from the English community. The JP names are really lame as hell. It's too bad that they don't recognize how good translators they have in their team and want to change the names/roles universally. I've always thought the current classes fit the world quite perfectly, and XI classes... not so much.

Sure I'll take whatever is coming though lol.

I never liked Thaumaturge and Conjurer to begin with. I barely even notice any difference when switching to either class.

Lore-wise I think they are different enough. I don't think the name or the background lore is the issue here at all. I don't think anyone is against making the classes more unique anyway, just not this way.

[Liminality]

I do really like the mage gear; however, I actually hope that it will be obtainable through something outside of an NM. An event or quest perhaps? The event or quest can still involve killing something, but I'd like something with a little more depth than collect 400 faction points and go kill this NM.

[Shuichi]

These letters from Yoshi P. are always a treat.

That is all.

[millionsknives]

Wow that armor is badass. Yoshi-P, you rock - almost enough to make me play XIV

[Carraway]

The general inclination from my linkshell is that the armor is going to be how FFXIV's devs reintroduce the traditional classes, but the actual classes themselves will remain untouched. A DoM thus becomes a "black mage" by putting on the armor, reallocating stats/actions/traits for nuking, etc.

[Hyan]

The general inclination from my linkshell is that the armor is going to be how FFXIV's devs reintroduce the traditional classes, but the actual classes themselves will remain untouched. A DoM thus becomes a "black mage" by putting on the armor, reallocating stats/actions/traits for nuking, etc.

Hm, I would like that approach. So like that it'd be no longer based on the weapon but the armor instead?

[Cureslime]

Designs look great. Maybe we'll get advanced jobs that split off from the main jobs. Thaum spins off into warlock and blm andconj splits off into whm and blu would be cool. What I'm looking forward to the most are the flavor quests right now.