A few updates from the FFXIV forums

[Loony BoB]

A few selected posts by the SE team there:

- Hopefully there will be a comment by the dev team shortly regarding saving skill sets.
- Changes/additional options to the character creation system are being looked into. Any changes made will likely come with the option to change the look of your character.
- The aggro icon will become optional, and there will also be the enemy level on display.
- Auto-attack will make a return. From the long post made by the SE team (http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/1289-Auto-attack-A-complete-battle-system?p=63333#post63333) it sounds like they will be revamping the battle system in some notable way. The auto-attack can also be expected to be faster than FFXI's auto-attack, meaning less time standing around facing your enemy, which I like.
- The volume adjustment is currently on a one-volume-for-everything system. While not a priority at the moment, this is something that will be looked into going forward with the hope to allow for different things such as ambient sounds etc. to have their own volume.
- Death penalty is something being looked at, see this post (http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/2097-An-open-discsusion-on-the-consequences-of-death?p=60222#post60222) for the thoughts of Yoshida on the matter.

[Rostum]

Still not convinced just yet.

Anyone else put off that the community rep on the official forums has only 7 posts, despite being registered for a month? :\

[Loony BoB]

There's a couple of them, not just the one - at least, I think that's the case. I'm sure I've seen more than seven posts, anyway. But yeah, there is definitely a lack of posting done by the SE team in the English forums, but I suppose it's as much as can be expected since they are, well, Japanese first and foremost. Still, the forums are also in beta stage so it's hard to be sure on just how the forums will turn out in the long run. I am convinced at least for now that the dev team are certainly listening to the concerns, though, so the forums aren't entirely useless.

The dev team don't seem too keen on giving much away at the moment, though.

EDIT: According to the Dev Tracker, the following users are either devs or community reps and they have made a total of 158 English posts...
Triary
Rukkirii
Hvinire
Bayohne
Naoki_Yoshida
Gildrein
Foxclon
Mocchi
Duckbill
...I imagine for the most part they are either devs with a bit of knowledge of the English language or else are SE's people in NA/EU that work on local translations. I'm sure I've seen it mentioned somewhere that some of the community reps are translaters for the game. It makes sense, I guess, to do things that way.

[Rostum]

Ah, I see.

I hope they don't stay too secretive for long, that's what bit them in the butt last time.

[Loony BoB]

There have been a few posts of note about future updates and intentions, so I figured I'd post in here again.

- Some kind of "chocobo implementation" is planned to be included in patch 1.19. I'm guessing that means we can ride chocobos, but doubt it means we can breed them or anything just yet, as...
- ...they intend to include the raising of chocobos "and other mounts" that you can ride, along with pets that can only be utilised by specific jobs.
- It looks like if you disconnect in an instanced dungeon, you will appear outside the dungeon when logging back in. Users are not happy about this as it was previously suggested that they would appear back in the dungeon upon logging back in.
- It seems likely that "Materia" will be a confirmed/used word in FFXIV soon enough (see interview linked below).
- The imminent jump feature will be similar to the jump features in other MMOs.
- Housing will happen and is currently in the planning stage.

Also: The Community Teams interview Yoshida in Japan! (http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/16129-The-Community-Teams-interview-Yoshida-in-Japan%21?p=225712#post225712)

[champagne supernova]

Also: The Community Teams interview Yoshida in Japan! (http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/16129-The-Community-Teams-interview-Yoshida-in-Japan%21?p=225712#post225712)

2-3.5 hours of sleep on average. This guy is going to kill himself before XIV comes right!

Thinking that if I did get this MMO (and I'm more likely to get into Eve, I think), I'll wait until it arrives on the PS3. At the moment, it sounds like they're still making a game and I don't really want to play a beta.

[Loony BoB]

- Female Roegadyn and male Miqo'te are planned to be available with PS3 release.
- It seems airships may well come out at the same time as chocobos (likely 1.19).
- You will be required to complete a quest to access chocobos and airships, and will also require a fee for airships after quest completion.
- Cities are planned to be made more 'lively' during the map revamps.
- Changes will be made to both the geography and the design of the areas during the map revamps, and "some areas will be changed rather drastically".
- While engraving one's name into crafted weapons is being discussed, it will not be done soon because server-related adjustments would need to be done before it can be implemented.
- There are plans to add more class quests, but this will likely be after the job system is implemented.
- New monsters will come in with the implementation of beastmen strongholds (which I think are coming in 1.18?).
- They are considering adding more monsters that are "FINAL FANTASY-like".

[Mirage]

- Female Roegadyn and male Miqo'te are planned to be available with PS3 release.

Well now I'm actually really interested in playing again.

[Rostum]

- Female Roegadyn and male Miqo'te are planned to be available with PS3 release.
- It seems airships may well come out at the same time as chocobos (likely 1.19).
- You will be required to complete a quest to access chocobos and airships, and will also require a fee for airships after quest completion.
- Cities are planned to be made more 'lively' during the map revamps.
- Changes will be made to both the geography and the design of the areas during the map revamps, and "some areas will be changed rather drastically".
- While engraving one's name into crafted weapons is being discussed, it will not be done soon because server-related adjustments would need to be done before it can be implemented.
- There are plans to add more class quests, but this will likely be after the job system is implemented.
- New monsters will come in with the implementation of beastmen strongholds (which I think are coming in 1.18?).
- They are considering adding more monsters that are "FINAL FANTASY-like".

This is the stuff that gets my interest, more specifically revamping environments and making cities more "lively". Though I will still hold out to wait and see.