Race stat differences

I hear that they will all effectively be the same in this game. I don't really care for that end of things, personally. I liked in FFXI that certain races were better at magic, certain races were better at damage taking, etc. I would actually go as far as to say that I think it would be really neat if each race could go about things in a different, unique way - to some extent, anyway. I think it makes things a bit more realistic and adds to the 'feel' of the game. I can understand that this means people who are insane over doing everything in a game can actually do everything, but it still feels like the game is being simplified a little at this end.

I don't expect them to be all the same, there will probably be minor differences.

Stat progression is completely different in FFXIV. Each time your character gains a physical level, you are awarded six points to allocate amongst your stats. This allows every player to choose to specialize or more evenly distribute these talents. Last I heard, Square Enix was considering allowing players to redistribute these points when using different jobs, but I've not yet heard of a solid system for doing this, only hopes that it will involve some kind of stat profile you can associate with each job. We'll have to wait and see.

That said, I'm glad they're straying from the race-specific stats. Galka mages are punished far more severely than tarutaru melees; their MP pool is cripplingly low whereas tarutarus aren't noticeably squisher or weaker than most other melees (it also didn't help that melee gear was typically cheaper to bridge the gap than it is for galkas to get the gear to compensate for MP, MND, and INT).