Derek Gorden from MMORPG.com recently posted a talk that was held with Robert Peeler, a Community Planner and Service Manager for Square Enix’s Final Fantasy XIV. A lot of what has been posted on the article has been established by previous interviews and articles such as shooting for the simultaneous global release for the PC and PS3 in 2010, XBOX 360 development, and (again) NO “leveling” in FFXIV. The real meat of the interview rests in how characters will progress in the game. This has been a source of confusion in the community, as many people have found themselves questioning as to what sort of goal S-E is allowing their player-base to aim for while adventuring in the land of Eorzea. The following is a summary of what we can expect to see in FFXIV:
- There will be a skill set system but it will not be tree based.
For those unfamiliar with other MMORPGs, this means that a set of skills will be available to you as you gain levels or (in the case of FFXIV) become more proficient at your class/weapon. As you gain skills, can even set your character apart from others by taking different branches of particular skills that will allow you to specialize in that area such as becoming a BLM that is focused purely on Ice type of magic or a WHM that is focused on purely magic against the undead. FFXIV will not be taking this path, and it can be assumed that either the skills are already set in stone and thus alleviating the problem of casual players needing to figure out which branches they would need to specialize in to get the most out of their time and money.
- Points will not just be gained for each weapon but will also help in the development of your character’s attributes.
- Characters can wear almost any armor in the game! … Provided you meet the stat requirements necessary to equipment that piece of equipment.
- Monsters aren’t going to have levels, and we will still have the /check feature.
There are a few other juicy details posted on Derek Gorden’s article, so be sure to check it out at MMORPG.com!
Calaera was foiled on her plan for dominating Vana'diel with Cuteness Attack, but is now working on Cuteness Attack v2.0 to take over Eorzea! She also maintains her own gaming blog: 
I think the first thing I want to do is equip a tail in FFXIV so I can work on learning Shield of Doom~
On a more serious note lol, nice update. Things are starting to get a little bit more clearer. The armor system especially. A mage could wear heavy armor but they might not get the magical stats like they normally would from a light clothes for example.
Im still really interested in the battle system though o o. With auto-attack gone and the whole two bar thing, I can’t wait to find out more info on the things you can do with melee combat and much later magic.
Lastly the fact that levels are gone for us always means they’re gone for monsters. So I was hoping they were gonna keep the /check in some way or form. This is going to be really fun from the get go; trying to figure out which mobs we can face in groups aside from just the normal solo play^^
Dunno if I like the idea of “stat development.” One of the most appealing things about XI is that when you switch to another set of skills, your stats swap over as well. Sounds like this is going to turn into something like WOW where you’ll have to create 20 different characters if you want to be able to specialize and enjoy each class.
Well, I think Squeenix once mentioned that their Job system was one of their favorite, especially how you can keep your character/avatar name.
I don’t think they will deviate from that, just my opinion/guess.
20 different character to specialize would be hella annoying.
annoying and expensive.
In FFXI isn’t it $1.00 per additional character? the regular fee + $19/month is pretty absurd x x
It is rather expensive, and I am hoping that FFXIV will decide to curb that price down to something more reasonable with a flat rate for a specific number of characters total like other MMOs. I am not holding my breath on it though… :\
$12.95 I believe is the base price for the acct + 1 character slot iirc. But yeah, for that price you should be able to have more than one singular character.
Also, I like the idea that there going to allow armor to be used by all professions once they meet the requirements. Just as long as the game doesn’t devolve into a situation where you need hundreds of pieces to maximize effectiveness as it is now in FFXI.
If I’m reading this right it does sound like you are not going to have the ability to level every job to max profficency w/ out creating several accounts. I don’t like the idea that I have to divide my time up between multiple characters just to have something eficent in each situation (i.e have to level an elvaan for a tank a taru to have a decent mage and a mithra and a galka for a DD) that sounds more annoying then entertaining. Not to mention I still plan on keeping FFXI going so that would be even more time divided between games and characters.
Hmm when I look at the Armor system, it sort of reminds me of Diablo. I mean there were job specific equips but each equip had a stat requirement. Though I feel like they might throw in a couple, not a lot, of job specific equips; just a feeling.
I do not like the idea of not being able to level each job possibility either. I do not like having several characters running around like I did in Guild Wars. I like the fact in FFXI that you can change jobs pretty much on the fly and have very specific and also non-specific gear (makes you strive for something more). Also if they have it so you can run around and change weapons to change job, wouldn’t that mean you are going to need an arsenal of item space?
Many things are still unclear to me, I hope more releases of information rid of the confusion a little more.
Nice web site man, picked up some nuggets here…can’t wait for Cataclysm, I read a rumor that it is being coming out November 2010, though with Blizzard you never know :/