Anyway, looking good, but I seriously worry that the problem here is speed. All these changes are great but they are seriously running out of time to get this stuff implemented if they want to keep people's interest. They should have had most of this stuff in by March really.

Hello again, all fans of FINAL FANTASY XIV!

Today’s letter marks the tenth entry in the series, which is still going strong thanks to your support. As always, I’ll endeavor to keep the latest information flowing to you, so keep watching this space!

It’s been a while since I last updated our list of changes, so I figured it was due for a good clean up. Like last time, I’ve grayed out the items already implemented and noted what patch they were released in. New entries to the list are appropriately marked as -NEW-. The Battle System section was getting a bit large, so I made a separate category for enemy and field changes. This time around, the list contains additions planned for up until summer 2011. You see what I did there with the bold font for emphasis? But anywho, without further ado, feast your eyes on the list in its entirety! (Remember, these are our plans until summer 2011!)

** HUGE TABLE SNIP **

On the hot topic of battle, as our lead battle planner Akihiko Matsui posted on the forums the other day, major changes are in store heading into summer, such as the introduction of auto-attack. Now, to make Matsui stop his incessant poking (he’s still at it!), let me put it this way—the theme of the overhaul to the battle system is reward effort, reduce monotony. Let’s see if that holds off the pokes.

Think of the satisfaction you get when taking out an enemy solo by a stroke of brilliance. Or the supreme exhilaration you feel when pwning entire hoards of foes by playing out your party role to perfection. Now, in contrast, imagine a person who, with only half his heart in the battle, struggles to dispatch the enemy. This kind of range in experience is what we’re aiming for with the reformed battle system—a system that rewards effort and innovation. Revisions to the Armoury System and battle algorithms will be spearheading the changes, along with the introduction of the job system. We’re pressing forward with changes catering to both solo and party play, so you can rest assured whatever your playing style.

1.18 will see levequest balancing go into full swing, starting with revisions centered on rewards. As for crafting and gathering, we’re tweaking existing recipes and adding brand-new ones for crafter gear ahead of the summer. I’m pleased to say we’ve concluded our feasibility study for the Materia crafting system (though the name is still tentative), and will soon hammer out the details for the UI and start working on the data.

Now, there’s one new item on the list that fans of the FINAL FANTASY series wouldn’t have missed: the long-awaited battle with the primal Ifrit is on the way! But that’s hardly where it ends. We’ll be summoning forth more and more primals in the future, so keep an eye out for further announcements.

A number of plans made at the beginning of the year will soon be ripe for release. Among these are the shiny new job system (a proper system, mind you, not just renamed classes), an in-game achievement system related to Lodestone character histories, and new modes of transport to address the mobility issue. Once our current plans progress to the next stage, I believe it’ll be possible to unveil a longer-term update schedule. (We’ve been giving chocobos a lot of thought, but it’s hard to establish a timeframe before we define exactly what needs to be done.)

And that about does it for this letter. For next time, I’m planning to write all about our progress on auto-attack, and hope to be able to present the feature to you in fully animated glory rather than with dull screenshots. (Note to self: have Lodestone crew implement video embedding on the website.)

Thanks for reading! Catch you next time and/or on the forums!

Algorithms

In light of changes planned for the Armoury System, the need to revise algorithms has arisen. At the same time, we will also carry out the changes below in order to streamline areas made overly complicated.

•Abolishing the rounding formula based on standard rank values *1
•Optimizing the value ranges for the influence of attributes *2

Many in-game elements are known to influence algorithms, and we are working on identifying them all regardless of the extent of their impact.

We believe that the above changes will allow players to more keenly feel and appreciate the myriad benefits offered by magic and equipment, which will lead to a new depth of enjoyment in attributes.

*1 The algorithm whereby values associated with rank are rounded up or down to be as close to the standard as possible.
*2 The system whereby enhancing statuses (whether obtained through attribute allotment, equipment, or magic) are influenced by incremental sets of values.

i feel like its just way too many promises and no delivery. has the game even really gotten more than 1 real patch aside from minor bug fixes in the last 6 months? all i remember is that patch that added the large amount of random nms. past that its been nothing but "we decided to double the size of every monster" and "we decided to nerf the only possibly endgame content there is and restrict ur pt size".

im kind of past hope to the point where i just find this laughable and every dollar SE loses for this bullshit puts a bigger smile on my face.

As sad as it is, i think i'll just go back to ffxi if i want to get my final fantasy online fix. Even with these changes i feel like were getting no where and that the end result will still be some sort of wierd frankenstein of them trying to force old shitty ideas to work instead of making a new great game.