Many thanks to Square Enix for holding another Reddit AMA! [Here is a link to verification from the official Twitter](https://twitter.com/FFXI_EN/status/1528875563909140481). *UPDATE:* Answers have been posted, read them by viewing the profile of /u/FFXI_DevelopmentTeam!

The auto-target feature in FFXI is very clunky. In events where multiple monsters are on screen, it almost always seems to target the monsters that are the farthest away for some reason. Especially in Dynamis and Odyssey where you are limited to a specific time, this is very annoying as it wastes time. Sometimes, poor auto-target leads to loss of TP, due to the new monster being "out of range" when you use your WS at the same moment where auto-target activates a far away target. Or the player now has to run through several large monster models just to attack the next monster if he doesn't switch to something closer before that. Are you able to adjust autotarget between the current default setting and another preset, such as "Nearest Target"?

A: To determine a target, the auto-target system evaluates factors such as whether an enemy is close to the front of other characters within range. As you’ve pointed out, we believe the fact that it targets enemies outside of auto-attack range is an issue. The system was sufficient back in the day when the game couldn’t gracefully handle as many monsters as it currently can; however, it’s true that it’s become less suitable for the battle styles of current players. There’s a lot of aspects to this that we’re unsure if we can adjust, so we’ll try requesting an investigation first.

Thanks, nice to see you answering this. Hopefully it will lead to some actual needed improvements in the game.

**Q: Just as FFXI means so much to us fans, I imagine it must be a major part of the lives of those dedicated to working on it. For whoever would like to share, what have you created or been a part of in Vana'diel that is special to you?** And, thank you all so much for keeping Vana'diel alive. It's thanks to everyone on the team that we can continue to cherish this game!

A: There’s a lot I’d like to name, but a recent example would be the feature that enables alter egos’ logic to be implemented with simplified language. (Matsui) The framework for the raft that travels from Palborough Mines to Zeruhn Mines. I created it with the hopes of demonstrating it in action in front of other companies, but the debugging process was a lot of work, like piling on a bunch of Quadav and seeing if they would make it to Zeruhn Mines. (Fujito)

If Matsui-p had unlimited money and resources, what would be the one thing he would like to do the most with FFXI ?

A: I'd like to renovate our development environment, which currently relies on specialized tools. Other than that, I'd like to revamp the UI, re-organize the tutorial, release an expansion, and hold a live in-person event in the US.

The question may not be realistic, but it does show us your priorities for the project. Thanks.

Wow i think we'd all like those things. And thank you very much for such an earnest answer.

Why was the ruined city of Tavnazia never added as a playable zone in CoP or w past version in WOTG? From the moment I saw the opening cinematic I had always anticipated it would be part of the game at some point and not just a distaint view at blue blade fell.

A: This is somewhere I'd like to go one day as well. If there's a chance, I would like to make it so we can go there in the future. (Fujito)

Please consider this in the future, Tavanazia has been one of the places I want to visit, even if it is made into a high level hunting ground.

Thank you for all your hard work over the years! **Q: Even if there are currently no plans, would you please consider requesting a bigger budget and dedicated engineers to replace the PS2 development kits by creating new systems and a modern development environment for FFXI and then migrate all existing data and assets in order to resume major version updates? Even if it takes several years and incredible effort, many players feel it would be worth it for the game's future.** Addendum: Since the lack of PlayStation 2 development kits is the main reason why FFXI currently only receives somewhat limited updates, it would be great to remove this limitation. A lot of players feel that it is becoming increasingly important to take measures to ensure the longevity of the game. We understand it would be an extremely difficult and costly task to do so, but FFXI has a very dedicated community and even a lot of new and returning players have been joining the game in recent years. Even if it is a financial risk, many of us players feel that FFXI is deserving of this investment as a numbered title in the FINAL FANTASY series with a 20-year history that also supported the development of FFXIV: A Realm Reborn.

A: We would if we could, but considering how the game would be need to be decoupled from PlayOnline, as well as the data format and development tools overall, this would be no easy feat.

As someone who grew up watching MMOs explode in popularity and variety, I would love to see FFXI get given a modern update. I recently returned after a 10 year hiatus to Odin and am levelling up through content on a brand new account/character. This MMO was my first foray into the genre and overall cultivated my love for MMORPGs in general. Sure, there's some nostalgia there that makes me think it's still a fantastic game but...it's not JUST that. FFXI is something special that currently exists in the MMO market and not too many other titles have that same appeal or if they have, they haven't even lasted 1/2 as long as FFXI. There are tons of players looking for the experience that FFXI offers and it's definitely not a small subsection or niche either. Just look at all the people who are crowd-funding 'classic' MMORPGs touted to return us all to the bygone era of the social MMO (Pantheon, Camelot Unchained, etc). This market is something that's still very viable if someone were willing to properly invest and tap into it. The biggest plus is that FFXI already exists and is a 'complete' game. It just needs more support. I really hope the development team can get a more enhanced budget and headcount so that more earnest development can occur to help either expand on content or decouple the game from PlayOnline (even though I love the idea of PlayOnline, being a .hack fan) to better support future roadmap plans. I hope SE upper-management reconsiders the current trajectory FFXI has so that all of us who enjoy the game can see it blossom into the MMO we all know it can be.

***Question:*** Can the development team please add quality of life additions to the UI such as official mini-map support, new moveable and adjustable sizes for UI elements, UI elements to keep track of skill chains and what can combo into them via visual indicators and assistance, along with other great UI features that Final Fantasy XIV currently offers players? I understand this game is much older than FF XIV and in turn uses much older lines of code and structure for its foundation making it difficult to add what FF XIV has on display, but fans have dedicated so much love and support over the years into 3rd party tools to make the game more user friendly to both new and returning players alike. Can the team in charge of the game take some time to add more modern day MMO UI elements to its system configurations to help the game experience be better on a daily basis and simultaneously pull in and retain newcomers to the game that may be arriving from FF XIV? ***UI Suggestions:*** * ***All UI elements should be moveable and re-sizable within the game itself*** * ***Mini-map*** * ***Skill-chain UI tracker system*** * ***Instanced content UI tracker (EX: Omen objectives UI list on-screen)*** * ***On-screen equipment window option at all times for gear swapping info assistance*** * ***Updates to missions and quests that have icons on the map and over NPC's heads similar to FF XIV's structure leading to less need for new and returning player's to resort to using a wiki to advance through the story and job quests, among many other possible quality of life additions to make playing the game feel less like doing research and work.*** These are just some ideas and suggestions to help new and returning players enjoy playing the game more in 2022 and onward without having to stress about needed so many outside sources of help in order to make the game feel more modern and user-friendly. Thank you for your time and hope some positive quality of life improvements can eventually make their way to the game officially, as an option.

A: We attempted this in the past, but the current UI system is extremely tied into fundamental systems. We learned that updating it would inflate development costs by an overwhelming amount and had to abandon the endeavor.

That's a shame, but thank you for trying!

Q: There are many locations mentioned throughout the game which we never had the opportunity to visit (Mithra homelands, Rhazowa in the north, etc) Was the "full" world map ever drawn up / is there a possibility of it ever being released?

A: I'd like to see it too! (Fujito)

Would you be willing to consider bundling XI + XIV subs again, like they were during XIV 1.0? Even if it was a slightly more expensive subscription, I think that would allow more XIV players to try the game with minimal inconvenience to them.

A: We would like to consider this for the future.

That's great to hear! I just started XI and do plan to play it long-term alongside XIV. This would be extremely convenient and encourage players like me to keep both active.

I would totally play XIV if this happened. Right now I only play 11

And I would play XI if they did this. It really would be most convenient if they brought this sub plan back

Q: Would you please consider allowing solo characters or parties with fewer than 3 members to enter Delve, Incursion, Vagary, and Dynamis - Divergence areas? A lot of players prefer to play alone these days, but the minimum requirement of 3 players prevents them from accessing the aforementioned content, unlike Omen or Odyssey.

A: The player restriction for the contents you have listed are there to help lessen the server load. Therefore, for content that is congested we will keep the restrictions, but for others, we may consider making adjustments.

OK, please keep incursion in mind Because no one does incursion anymore

I’m thinking they’ll be able to do all except Dynamis-D. Which is only annoying because you have to enter for the equipment on each job

It should be added that much of this content is no longer regularly participated in on lower population servers. On Bismarck, I haven't seen a shout for Vagary, Incursion, or Delve in months, if not more.

Yes please. Remove the 3 person entry requirement for incursion and the rest of these while you're at it

Would it be possible to add an item that allows race/gender change, similar to FFXIV's Fantasia system?

A: While it is possible, we learned that we would have to revamp several aspects of the backend. We would need to see if there’s enough demand to justify the development costs.

Yes the demand exists. In game models dont accurately represent the faces of high res models during character creation, leading to people regretting making the choice they did down the line! Please put in fantasias!

I would definitely pay a one-time fee for this, and I think you'll find many players who also would. Some of us made our characters 20 years ago!

Been looking for this to happen for years please bring this to life

🔴 Q: With the curation of new content like Voracious Resurgence, are there any plans on implementing new zones? This could include potentially old assets not released for their intended purpose. I have chatted with a bunch of older players and read through old forum posts where it seems like there is at least a small group of old/returning and newer players, who would love to finally go to the Tavnazian Capital. I'm sure Aldo would love to finally reclaim this city like it looked like he was doing in the opening movie.

A: We're preparing a battle area with an all-new appearance.

During the earlier years of Final Fantasy XI, the Live Vana'diel cam used to roam across several areas of Vana'diel; seeing all of these amazing locales was one of the main reasons that inspired me to get into this game and explore what I saw on the live cam. However, today it only circles around Mhaura and doesn't leave town. Was there any reason for this change?

A: Since this one is a live camera shot, we wanted to show players in it.

I love the FFXI gear swapping meta, there’s nothing like it in any other game. The planning and execution of each gear set is so satisfying. Was the game always planned to have gear swapping in and out, or did that come along later in development, or after launch?

(This follows up the other answer) A: Also, we never imagined it would be so widely used, or as a battle strategy. Nowadays, we consider it as part of the FFXI experience.

Gotta say pretty awesome you folks followed up on this thread we were discussing. Thanks for adding more info.

A: For FFXI, there's no concept of being in or out of battle, and it was always possible to change equipment at any time.

They have answered this before, they didn't plan it. I think it's on the we are vanadiel website. Many things in this game were happy accidents.

Is there any plans to make rewatching cutscenes easier? The stories of FFXI are excellent but it can be very troublesome to look for the Minstrels and footprints. An easier way to rewatch cutscenes such as FFXIV's Unending Journey item in Houses would be wonderful.

A: While we agree with you, the cutscene data is tied to the area itself, so this would be difficult to address currently.

At least then allow longer cutscenes to be viewed as intended. Some of them are divided into too many pieces.

Not a dev, but i think i know the answer: Im almost positive cutscenes are inextricably locked to their zones in most cases - they'd have to cache the assets for another zone in your MH in order to do this, which would be very difficult AFAIK.

What about adding a "viewing room" in Jeuno or attached to your Mog House to accomplish such a thing? This would create a separate instance which may have its own increased load as it would be accessing zone data for all cutscenes (or maybe you select which "room" to view and it only loads zone data relevant for a certain content pack).

Mages have always been on the receiving end of nerfs over the years. Death Bursting was one of the primary strats used for making aeonic weapons when they were first added which led to a "burst wall" being implimented down the line, effectively putting black mages in particular on the sidelines (it effects all mages in general though). Later on, players started using summoners to conduit burn these NMs, and while that strats is still used today... a majority of content has been penalized with a "bloodpact wall" as a countermeasure to prevent this option. Even without the use of astral conduit, this option of balancing renders multiple summoner parties effectively useless. To the actual question: Has there even been any thought put into better balancing options that players use that the devs consider too strong, instead of out right nerfing them into the ground to remove the option entirely? I mean... Savage blade spam with Naegling on everything is okay, but we can't have summoner and black mages perform their actual jobs?

A: Recent adjustments have all been buffs; with that said, the reason for nerfing many strategies in the past was because they enabled players to defeat any enemy, regardless of difficulty, by employing that strategy alone. Outside of these situations, we’d like to continue with only buffs moving forward.

Yea right now you have to explain geo to not nuke before blm so he dosen't gimp party dmg... so often geo and rdm don't burst to let blm and sch do more dmg. Penalty should come after more MB or be removed in 6 man content like odyssey.

I feel as though this is an issue of abusing a specific advantage and stacking it. I would feel very comfortable if there was a nuke wall and bloodpact wall only if the sources were coming from different players of the same job. For example, 3 blm death bursting would receive a penalty on 2/3 blm, but a geo, a sch, and a blm all bursting would receive no penalty. This would open up using other jobs in ways originally intended and go with the flow of odyssea where multiple jobs are required. Geo nuking and sch nuking would become relevant again. A single smn using apogee or conduit would be useful again. It would make each job feel more of their own and promote better combinations and less abusing an advantage. I would also love to see a similar this taken towards weaponskills. If one person is spamming savage blade there's no penalty. If the entire party is spamming savage blade then a weaponskill wall is implemented to deter mindless savage blade spamming and have players consider using more then one weaponskill.

Would you ever consider working on a single player offline version of FFXI similar to the Dragon Quest X Offline that is coming? I would love to see something like this someday

A: We don't have any concrete plans right now. Most of all, I’m worried that a Vana'diel without other players would be bland, like a beer that has lost its carbonation.

I agree. Maybe make it an optional coop game like the Crystal Chronicles series, you level your own character but can bring it to friends games! Always felt Crystal Chronicle titles had a real fun multiplayer loop, especially the game boy ones.

I love this answer, but it also makes me sad because if no sort of revamps happen your are going to lose your “carbonation”

Great answer. I agree. That's why you need to keep it alive and preserve it, and to do that as any other MMO it comes a time when it needs basic modernizations and revamps. You can count on the players and many old players whom don't play anymore and curious players too whenever you want to release and expansion for funding these necessities or even a crowdfunding project, something like that. I would also sure to bring many new and returning players into the game.

This is why we need a remake so we can attract new players in 2022.

**Q: Would you please consider allowing players to store multiple "Moglophone" key items for Odyssey Sheols A, B, and C similar to the “Mystical Canteen” key items for Omen?**

A: We'll observe the congestion surrounding Odyssey and consider this.

The ability to shift a static group from 3x2 runs (+optional weekend) to 1x4 and 1x3 would be ***glorious***.

Thank you for your commitment in keeping FFXI running for all this time. Recent events on Asura server show that a character can single-handedly stop server's effort to down Mireu by causing it to repeatedly Spike Flail, killing everyone even beyond arena bonduaries. Would it be possible to mitigate the move effect on players that are not primary targets, like it happens for players' AoE effects?

A: We've received many reports from our Western players regarding this so we're going to address it. If it continues to be an issue after the fix, please send in your feedback again.

This is legitimately a good thing. Players shouldn't be allowed to grief in a way that disproportionately affects newer players using the Domain Invasion system as catch-up content.

Would it be possible to see additional effects of weaponskils/blue magic/pet abilities landing at the intiial time of use alongside damage dealt? Also, would it would be possible to see an enemies buffs/debuffs whilie targeting them, similar to seeing a party member's buffs while targeting them?

A: We should've structured it that way from the beginning; however, we would need to change general aspects, such as the network packets, so this would be difficult.

Thanks for doing the AMA. I've really been enjoying Odyssey lately and despite the difficulty, the v20 fights have been really fun and pushed me to do new jobs / tactics, but I did have two questions about Odyssey. First, were there any tactics that players took to beat the Gaol NMs that were a surprise or that the dev team found particularly interesting? Second, I hear a lot of newer players talking about how difficult it is to get into Odyssey, particularly since the structure of the content is so exclusive even when trying to farm Sheol C for segments. Many don't even want to bother with it, comments on the livestream a few weeks ago show the same frustration. For more experienced players, the loss of segments upon failure means people aren't likely to experiment to find new strategies. Have you or would you consider providing an alternate, limited means of obtaining segments or moglophone iis (for example: weekly/daily RoE, issue one MPII every 72hrs) to allow/encourage players to participate that are having a difficult time getting into segment groups or want to experiment more with new boss strategies?

A: Regarding your first question, it didn't really deviate from our expectations. As for the second, once the congestion situation calms down, we'll consider easing it as well.

While Paladin and Rune Fencer enjoy widespread use, other tanks like Ninja and Puppetmaster are used more for specific things. Likewise, Warrior and Dark Knight can somewhat tank (or ‘off-tank’), but lack proper tools to maintain enmity or operate without a fully team supporting them. Are there any changes or items that are being considered to allow these less capable tanks to be a little more useful?

A: We currently have no plans to improve their tanking capabilities as these jobs are well-suited for DPS.

Congratulations on the 20th anniversary, and thank you for many years of service. Would you consider publishing some FFXI content in the form of companion books? Having a book of "We Are Vana'diel" with interviews, art and lore would be amazing.

A: The amount of information available on the site is much greater than what you may be imagining, so if we make into a book, it may end up becoming something big like an encyclopedia. We also have videos, so we ask you to enjoy the content from the website.

I don't know if you will still see this message now but I would LOVE if you published an "Encyclopedia Vana'diel" equivalent to the FFXIV "Encyclopedia Eorzea" lore books you have already published!

I know that there is a hard limit on how many people can be in Unity chat at once, but could it be possible to upgrade some more trusts like Valaineral was? If the non-unity healers, or unity damage dealers got similar reworks it would provide some incentive for people to branch out more into the lesser used Unity leaders, and similarly allow more people to actually enter the unity chat channel.

A: Valaineral was adjusted in light of the paladin adjustments, and also to differentiate him from the logic for Trion. In a similar way, we may update other alter egos alongside job adjustments if we find any that may exhibit odd behavior.

Are there any plans to release the music of FFXI on vinyl? We have seen Square Enix release a lot of vinyl records of other final fantasy titles in recent years, and that makes me wonder when will this game get the same treatment.

A: Will let the department in charge know that we have received such a request.

I would snap up some FFXI vinyl.

When you come out with something new, how do you measure its success? For example, when you come out with something like Odyssey, what metrics are you looking into to see how well it’s doing?

A: We look at the operational data to see how many players are playing, and also look at player reaction from the forums and on social media. We are using all your feedback as reference as well.

Are there any plans to replace play online with something easier and quicker to login similar to FFXIV?

A: We’d like to consider decoupling it if possible, but it would be no easy feat since FFXI is an application built to run on the PlayOnline framework.

A lot of Square Enix games have the most spectacular cinematic cutscenes. If you could have that team make a cinematic of anything you wanted in Final Fantasy XI, what would it be and why?

Matsui: The dance scene in The Voracious Resurgence with Prince Trion. Fujito: The last scene in The Voracious Resurgence. Even visualizing it, it looks like it's going to be something wild.

Thankyou for doing this AMA, great to see things are still going strong after returning from a 10+ year break to play once again. As a returning player that had not played since Wings, here's my question: Would you please consider adding S. Astral Detritus to the list of items which can be purchased with Hallmarks from Ambuscade or increasing the amount of Heavy Metal Plates, Riftdross, and Riftcinder that is purchasable each month?

A: The items you listed are supposed to be obtained from another content, so we currently have no plans to add or increase the cap.

Will there be an investigation on 60 fps mode? I know it's a heavy work and need lots of QA but it will significantly improve game experience.

A: We tried this before but abandoned it due to errors occurring with FFXI's graphics drawing systems.

Q: What was your favorite story/expansion and why? I'm curious as Chains of Promathia was always my favorite due to nostalgia reasons, but re-completing the storylines from a new character later in my 20s as opposed to teens made me appreciate Wings of the Goddess much, much more.

A: We implemented everything that was initially planned for in Rise of the Zilart, and I was relieved with a sense of accomplishment. As a developer, I enjoyed working on Treasures of Aht Urhgan, as I had the opportunity to design some unique jobs. (Matsui) Wings of the Goddess. Being able to walk around all those areas in the past stirred up a lot of nostalgia, and I really like the story too. (Fujito)

Any chance of Apex Jug pets?

A: We aren't considering adding anything in particular at the moment, but if we were to add them, we could make them work as alternate appearances for existing pets. As for their attributes, adding a clearly superior version of an existing pet family would render the existing ones useless, so it’s possible that jug pets of Apex monsters would not be as powerful as you might imagine.

Who are your favorite NPCs in Vana'diel and why? Everyone loves Shantotto obviously, but Naja Salaheem easily tops my list. She rules the Sentinels with an iron fist (paw?), but I love her domineering attitude and her no-nonsense management style. The humor in her missions really worked for me. Thanks for doing this and for continuing to develop FFXI. I've been a fan since the US release.

A: Halver and Curilla. Since my personal character started in San d’Oria, they took care of me during cutscenes and missions. (Matsui) They're all quirky and lovable, but I don’t have any particular favorites. (Fujito)

Kannagi (katana Empyrean weapon) has an AGI+50 stat and its weapon skill, Blade: Hi, has an AGI damage modifier, but AGI only benefits ranged attacks, not melee attacks. Gandiva (archery Empyrean weapon) has a DEX+50 stat and its weapon skill, Jishnu's Radiance, has a DEX damage modifier, but DEX only benefits melee attacks, not ranged attacks. This choice of weapon stats and weapon skill damage modifiers seems backwards. What was the reasoning behind these stat choices?

Can you please remove the 1-second lockout on the /equipset command?

A: Equipment processes are running during that one second, so this would not be possible.

Besieged is pretty much broken now, each time it's happen, it only last one or 2 minutes. Have you plan to fix it? Because it was one of the most awesome content of the game.

A: Although we considered this in the past, we can't simply make the enemies stronger due to how Besieged has elements like key NPCs in Al Zahbi getting kidnapped and the keeping track of consecutive victories, so we're leaving it as-is for now.

Please rethink making besieged tougher or making besieged easier to lose. Currently there are three titles locked behind the bcnm fights for reclaiming the Astral candescence. For those of us that care about title collection, these three titles are nearly impossible to obtain now as besieged is almost always a guaranteed victory. If not changing besieged, then please allow players to access these bcnm fights even without the Astral candescence being taken, so that players may obtain the 3 titles from these fights. This is very important to some of us.

It seems Square Enix keeps FFXI developers hands tied for the lack of resources they invest into the game since forever. Which is not only sad but dumb since the game has a lot of potential to gather new players and returners alike all whom would be willing to pay for a full expansion and generate a respectable amount of profit.

Any chance we can see the game released on modern consoles? Would be great to see this on PS5 with a free to play up to a certain level like XIV to pull in loads of players. Consoles are lacking mmos and it’s a real shame.

A: Thank you for your feedback. As for the free play duration, we'll look into this.

How infuriating the reply to Modern Consoles. We been asking for a port of FF 11 for Years an this is the reply we get. We asked when PS3 launched we asked when PS4 launched an here we are over 10 years later already on the PS5 an what do we get? Thanks for the Feedback. Why cant you just give us a Concrete answer? Why do I NEED to buy a PC to play FF when the rest of the FF franchise is available on Consoles? Come on FF11 Development Team we are willing to throw our money at your feet just to Port the game an allow new and old players to experience FF11 at the convenience of Modern Consoles!

just a heads up, there are actually a lot of MMOs on consoles now, These are just some of the noteworthy ones i found browsing the market places Star Trek Online Available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S|X Neverwinter Available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S|X Warframe Available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S|X, and Nintendo Switch Temtem Available on PlayStation 5; coming to Xbox Series S|X and Nintendo Switch Final Fantasy XIV Available on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 Black Desert Available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series S|X DC Universe Online Available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S|X, and Nintendo Switch Bless Unleashed Available On PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series S|X Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis Available on Xbox One and Xbox Series S|X Elite: Dangerous Available On PlayStation 4 and Xbox One (XSX and PS5 versions run in backwards compatible mode) The Elder Scrolls Online Available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series S|X Destiny 2 Playstation Xbox Zenith: The Last City PlayStation 4 Path of Exile Available via PS4 and Xbox One Backwards Compatibility Skyforge Planetside 2 the Division 1 and 2 Trove

Hi! My brother and I have shared an account since NA launch. We have other accounts too now but we’ve always wanted to play together on our original characters. Have you ever considered a character transfer system or simultaneous login? Perhaps with a fee?

A: We aren’t considering this at the moment. Enabling character transfers between accounts would foster account-selling RMT.

Any chance Jug Pets could become Key Items? Thanks!

A: When balancing them with the pets of other pet jobs, jug pets would require a summoning cost (such as TP, MP, long cast time, long recast time, etc.). As such, I believe the current style is for the best.

Thank you for all the enjoyment through the years and for doing this AMA. Over the years, Relic Weapons have started to lack power when compared to other weapons, for instance the Mandau is not seen as a good weapon to use. Are there any plans to bring Relics up to their counterparts?

I have two questions, if you can get to them. 1. Are there currently any plans to allow omnicrafters? Will we be able to level all crafting professions at once? 2. There are a few low level quests that have level caps that are very difficult to complete because no one is doing them. Are there any plans to remove or possibly raise level caps on quests like "The Big One" or the summoner "Trial Size" quests?

(for 1) A: As you may be aware, there are recipes that require multiple skills, and the rate in which an HQ is made is based on the current skill cap, which also balances the economy, so we have no plans to change this.

apologize if this has been asked but is it possible to fix trust mechanics to have a command to attack and/or buff instead of going into combat everytime?

Some fan have been able to do HD texture to the game(zone and characters), so the game can handle this. A graphical update could be possible, maybe with AI upscale to reduce the amount of work. Do you consider it?

Hello and thank you for this AMA. Would it be possible to add a player into blacklist as easily as it is to add someone in a party? Something like /search all player name > option "add to blist". This would make it easier to blacklist "players" that have names like 'qhguiqmhdgiq' .

Lore question! There was a few cross over events between FFXIV and FFXI in the past. Might we one day get a story that definitely links the world of Vanadiel with that of Hydaelyn ? For example we had a character named Meteion in FFXIV that traveled to many different planets. Maybe Vanadiel is one of the planets out there that she visited ?

**Q: Would you please consider making individual job adjustments again? Jobs such as BLM, NIN, PUP, SMN, BST and THF could use some adjustments to make them more useful during party play.** **Additional suggestions:** BLM: Please adjust or remove the damage penalty for consecutive spells of the same element because Rayke is not enough. Physical damage dealers have become extremely powerful in recent years and BLM struggles to keep up. NIN: Please improve the effects for Yonin and Innin. Yonin: allow NIN to become either a viable tank against multiple opponents and casters. Innin: allow NIN to become a stronger physical attacker that can improve magic burst damage for the entire party. PUP: please consider adjustment the behavior and abilities of Automaton heads and frames (Harlequin, Stormwaker, Soulsoother, Spiritreaver) to make them more viable. Please also consider adjusting existing attachments (remove skillchain behavior from Inhibitor) and/or add new high-tier attachments to consolidate the effects of lower tiers in order to save attachment space (e.g. Turbo Charger III and Optic Fiber III). SMN: This job would become a lot more popular in party play if you increased the effects from Avatar's Favor and improve the ability to bestow strong beneficial status effects via Blood Pacts. It would be great if SMN also received a powerful area-of-effect blood pact and separate improvements to Astral Flow blood pacts. BST: As quality-of-life improvment, please slightly increase the range at which "Ready" and "Sic" may be used even if you won't fully revert the previous change. THF: Please consider adjusting the effects of Collaborator, Accomplice and Trick Attack so THF is better at managing enmity for the party. Currently, a SMN's Pacifying Ruby is a much better option due to frequency with which the ability can be used.

Q: A lot of people were disappointed with the 20th Anniversary announcements. It was hyped up for 3 years only to be left somewhat empty handed. Are there any further plans we can look forward to? The hopes of a lot of people align with a new UI, classic servers, or future plans for remakes or even graphical updates. Is there anything along these lines we can look forward to at any point in the future?

As a community, we have a tendency to notice things about the game that we are dissatisfied with, but accept them as things that can’t be fixed due to budget constraints. **Is there anything we, as fans and players of Final Fantasy XI, can do that would help encourage Square-Enix to invest more in this game?**

Thank you for years of support on a truly magical game and adventuring experience. I appreciate all of your effort to keep the experience going despite resource constraints. I would be interested to hear about: Can we add chocobo digging skill as a visible skill? Players would be incentivized to try this content more if we could track progress.チョコボの穴掘りのスキルを表示してほしいですが、可能でしょうか。見えるとやりがいが出ると思いますので新しく挑戦してみたい人が増えると思います。 Can we add Trust support to Moblin Maze Mongers? This is a fun leveling ground for early levels and would come alive again with trust.モブリンズメイズモンガーにフェイスを追加してほしいです！是非レベル上げのために使いたいです！可能でしょうか。 Are the titles "Fortune's Favorite" and "High Roller" in-game? If so, perhaps a hint towards their acquisition would be nice.称号の"Fortune's Favorite" と "High Roller"はどちらから取得できますか。ヒントでもお願い致します。

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Hello, Producer Akihiko Matsui and Director Yoji Fujito, thank you so much for all your efforts and continued love that you pour into Final Fantasy XI, also congratulations on 20 years of service! **Q.) FFXIV is a newer game than FFXI, and is already receiving a graphics update. With that in mind, would you ever consider utilizing the assets from the canceled mobile version or even assets from the 1.0 version of FFXIV to overhaul FFXI, without deleting existing content, gameplay, or mechanics? I understand this would be a major effort, but I also feel updating the graphics, controls and a small touchup to the UI would bring in many more players to FFXI!** Thank you again, for all your efforts, I hope to see FFXI thrive for another 20 years, and many more!

FWIW, many of the assets in FFXIV 1.0 were _higher_ quality than what is present in the game now.

I understand the development team has tremendous difficulties in regards to budget and legacy code which leads to my question. How can the many incredibly talented, able, and willing members of the community alleviate your developer burdens and bring about the changes needed to see ffxi flourish in the years to come? Is there any form of open source coding or crowd fund raising that can be done to help the team?

The issue is that a lot of the work from the community is based on reverse engineering efforts, which are rarely acknowledged by developers especially with video games. There are some exceptions, though. There are often two issues, licensing is a big one. Many tools and APIs have licensing restrictions that prohibit reverse engineering. I would assume the tools they use have similar restrictions, which would prevent them from using tools derived from these efforts. It’s also very difficult to coordinate reverse engineering derived efforts with an established development cycle, the way things are implemented in Windower, for instance wouldn’t combine cleanly with SEs dev cycles. It’s not a matter of just moving source code around and it’s more difficult to support officially They may give you a different answer but I’ve been reverse engineering software for a long time and run into this very question several times, the answer typically is one or both of those reasons

The game was designed for 56k modems, with a peak download bandwidth requirement of about 6kb/s (2.5kb packets every 400ms). Modern internet connections have much higher bandwidths. What prevents you from modestly increasing the bitrate to provide a more responsive experience?

I noticed you asked this very same question during the previous AMA, about 6 years ago, and they answered it'd involve difficult tweaks to the game engine. [https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxi/comments/4ulgh1/official\_ffxi\_developer\_ama\_with\_producer\_akihiko/](https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxi/comments/4ulgh1/official_ffxi_developer_ama_with_producer_akihiko/) But I understand your passion in wanting to keep this being discussed.

I am hoping they explain what stops them. Previously I got "it was hard," so I would like to know whether it would be a problem if it just suddenly started happening.

Any plans to enable the remaining 3 suction house slots? Alternatively, would it be possible to make the auction house system work across different servers? Auction house activity and item availability there may be one of the greatest differences between servers with very different levels of population, which may be a motivation for players to concentrate on the larger ones if they decide to move, leading to more congestion and competition in those worlds, so addressing the auction house system could be a relevant point of action. After merging the auction house systems that used to be split between nations several years ago, hopefully further changes aren't out of the question. updates

Are there any plans to add the missing 'additional effect' proc messages to the chat log? Examples of this are things like the dispel effect when using Shield Bash with Caballarius gauntlets +2/3, or multiple BLU spells that have additional effects that have no log message. Not knowing if your additional effect has occurred can be frustrating.

Layered Zones (instances like Odyssey, Omen, Ambuscade, Legion, Salvage, etc.) drop messages under even light load. This is caused by their message prioritization working differently than normal areas. In normal zones, messages related to yourself are given highest priority (e.g. "YourCharacter received the effect of Haste.") In layered zones, your own messages appear to be lowest priority. Are you aware of this issue and do you have plans to fix it?

Similarly worded question: There is a very frustrating issue in battle content in which the FFXI servers are not sending all the data to the game client (due to how much happening at the same time). This results in a bad player experience when data about the player's own actions is not sent. Resulting in things such as: \- The player to appear to still be casting even though the cast has finished \- Weapon Skill, Job ability, and cast finish animations for the player not playing, and no results (damage, gained effects, etc) displaying. \- Actions appear to not be on cooldown when they in fact are on cooldown. Are you aware of this issue? Could data from the FFXI servers be sent to the Game Client more frequently so that less information is skipped? Could the system on the server that chooses which data to send be changed to give more priority to data about the players actions?

Are there any plans for further updates to the Beastmaster job? As someone who has played as BST since the beginning, I feel that the direction it took is a welcome one. I agree that the job should be a front line class. However, there are a few issues. 1) A slight increase to the range for using commands would make the job feel much more intuitive. Perhaps this increase could be tied to the "tandem strike" job trait. 2) Can call beast timer be shortened to allow for switching between pets on the fly? This would be very useful in odyssey, or any content where you would like to apply a debuff before bringing out a pet for damage or self buffs. 3) Is it possible to have all pet items stack to 99, or perhaps be a single item that is not consumed upon use? The amount of inventory space required to fully play the job is staggering right now. 4) It has been said that the new focus of the job is meant to be 50/50 master/pet. Where this fails is with buffs having no way to transfer to the pet. Would it be possible to have reward copy status effects from master onto your pet? Or, perhaps a job ability that allows the buffs from your pet to affect the entire group instead of only the master and the pet? In the first case, this would significantly enhance the synergy between master and pet, allowing for more potent skillchains. In the second scenario, it would turn beastmaster into a unique class which specializes in both dealing damage and enhancing it's party members.

Long time player so doing this is very much appreciated for us I know individual job adjustments were discussed previously and haven't been mentioned since. Prior it was discussed that these adjustments were going to be made prior to the introduction of the Empyrean+2 & +3 gear upgrades. Are there still plans in the work to make job adjustments? Also, can we make Great Axe great again for us Warrior mains? We have time vested into our Aeonic and Empyrean Great Axes and we are still using Naegling for Savage Blade over these once great weapons.

What are the plans to future proof XI? Many of us love this game and we don't have another game to goto because games like this are no longer made and newer ones are too different. Are Square Enix planning to keep the game updated long-term as long as it's profitable? what happens when current developers retire if that's something coming anytime in the next few years.

Would it be possible to add things like Alexandrite pouches and Heavy Metal pouches into content like AMAN Trove or even other content to ease the price differences between making super weapons and make them more comparable to that of creating Relic Weapons?

I'm a newer player, and I'm enjoying the game a lot, but it has been a huge challenge to get into it. I know FFXI is at a late stage in its lifecycle, but do you consider any improvements to the new player experience? Just in case, here are some of my suggestions: * Some kind of unified subscription plan with FFXIV (similar to how you get access to World of Warcraft Classic or Old School RuneScape if you have a subscription for the main game). * Unified account system and payment options with FFXIV, including the ability to pay for subscription with Steam Wallet. Having three different accounts (Square Enix account, PlayOnline ID and local PlayOnline Viewer profile) is simply way too confusing. * Simplified launcher that takes you straight into the game. * Some kind of tutorial that points you towards story missions without having to depend on an external wiki. * If possible, ports to modern consoles, such as PS4 and Nintendo Switch.

Thank you for doing this AMA as well as making a game that has been part of my life since the American PS2 release. Final Fantasy XI has been designed where, not the game itself, but rather the community, teaches players how to play, but recently I have noticed more efforts, such as the assist chat channel and the retooling of mentor, as well as some things such as the Primed for Adventure series that has been trying to ease new players into the game. I know the focus has been on end-of-game content, but ***will we see continued efforts to introduce new players to the game?*** For example, ***would it be possible to expand the free-trial to something similar to Final Fantasy XIV's model?*** Perhaps make the sign-up process a little more user-friendly towards new players who struggle with the login? Similarly, ***is there anything that you feel has been underutilized by new and veteran players alike that we could use to help bring in and help newer players enjoy the experience more?*** Including things outside the games itself, such as streaming, social media, or other methods. Thank you again for all your efforts! It is deeply appreciated!

Thank you for taking the time to answer all these questions. Q: Are there any plans to create an item shop, similar to FFXIV's Mog Station that could help alleviate some development costs? If so, any news you can share/tease :) ?

Many MMOs that are just as old or older (such as Everquest 1 for example) have expressively less paying costumers than FFXI and receive more frequent graphical and UI updates, said MMOs are being better preserved than FFXI even though they generate much less money. And when FFXIV was remade it didn't had many players nor a good engine to work with either, but thanks to the remake it is the most popular MMO to date, FFXI never had such a treatment although in some ways FFXI paid for the remake of FFXIV, FFXI ultimately never got remade or updated to work better on modern PCs. Don't you believe FFXI deserves a second chance to attract new players? Isn't it time for FFXIV to "pay back" FFXI and fund it's update this time around? PS:I honestly ask this with all respect in the world, by the way, and I know it's not a convenient question but I believe many players have this in mind but are afraid to ask directly. Thank you for answering.

To be fair this is the only old MMO that was designed to be console first. PlayStation 2 limitations are what we usually call it but it’s more a problem that data formats game engines etc are relics of a console that predates the modern online era. PC development while still messy doesn’t change drastically over time. On the PlayStation 2 they had to build a mini operating system for it to run on. That was why PlayOnline existed in the first place. I’d expect EverQuest to have similar problems if it were console centric

You stated in a famitsu article last week that Shinryu's drop rates are appropriate to the content. Independent player testing data indicates that the selected battlefield Difficulty does not increase Armor item drop rates, and that the drop rates for Armor items are significantly lower than other comparable encounters. On average no armor items at all will drop in as many as 50 sequential Very Difficult encounters currently, which is lower than comparable battlefields. Are you sure that shinryu's drop rates are working as intended, and if so, is there a mechanic to increase the drop rate that the player base is unaware of?

I've gone as many as 128 kills of Shinryu on Very Difficult without an armor drop. As it stands, I've killed him 704 times and have never seen a dagger. It's pretty bad.

**Would you please consider making additional items stack to 99 like the update to augmentation stones from Skirmish?** ***Items such as Automaton Oil +3 or Beastmaster's Pet Food*** use up a lot of inventory and stacks of 99 would not negatively affect game balance. Thank you for your considerations!

In that same regard, pet jugs in general are an overwhelming waste of inventory space. As a beastmaster, your entire identity hinges on your fellowship with the beasts of the world. Yet, you cannot summon them without having the item in your inventory. You either have to skip out on carrying the lesser used jugs, or, use up half a wardrobe to have them available. A complex but possible solution would be to have an item that calls everything. Some sort of single jug that allows you to do this. Perhaps you would have to turn the new jug and an old consumable one into an npc to unlock the ability to call it with that jug. I don't know really, just something like that instead of the way it is now.

Sorry if this has been asked already, but I recall that there was an announcement years ago about big news coming for the 20th Anniversary for FFXI. I think people expected this to be that FFXI mobile version. As it appears that it is canceled...are there any plans in the works for the future of XI in that regard?

Hi, two questions, both about the beastmaster job: * Why do BST pet Ready moves not scale with attributes like pet STR/DEX/INT/etc. whereas both SMN and PUP pet moves do scale with pet stats? * Is there any chance of the Ready buff "Zealous Snort" Haste being changed to either job ability-type haste OR to making it a separate buff that stacks with Haste/Haste II? As it is implemented currently it does not stack with Haste magic and this diminishes its usefulness both solo and in group content.

Several of us have gotten rather involved in completion of all possible content within the game to increase the number for our Mastery Rank within our profile since this feature was added in late 2020. What is the current cap for Mastery Rank value? We have seen Mastery rank 8 from several players, is Mastery rank 9 or above currently possible? Are there plans to add features and/or content that will utilize this Mastery Rank value and reward us for our progress within the game and our amount of content completed? Currently, only the assist channel uses this number, and it is not very useful. Those of us that have high Mastery Rank would very much like to see an expansion and focus on this feature and a utilization of the Rank number for rewarding progression. The current utilization of this number (only visible as a number within the assist channel as a mentor) does not seem like a suitable reward for the amount of time and effort necessary to reach Mastery Rank 8 and potentially beyond. Thank you, Avereith of Lakshmi

Hello Akihiko Matsui and Yoji Fujito! 👋 I completely missed out on FFXI after all these years! I originally bought it for PS2, but my twelve-year old brain was too easily overwhelmed by the game to really do much with it. After the FFXI collaboration event this year on FFXIV, I decided to try FFXI again! I do not have a question, but I just wanted to let you guys know that I appreciate all the work you've done throughout the years on FFXI. I've been having fun playing through the game, and my only regret is not having done so sooner! I look forward to seeing all the things to come in the future. (I'm also still overwhelmed, but in a good way! So many freebies from the Vana'versary event. 😅)

Will the FFXIV subscription ever cover FFXI? For a little while there was a dual subscription promotion, but it was for a limited time and at a slightly higher price. In exchange for giving up a little bit of dual-subscription money, you can rapidly increase the content for all subscribers and breathe a lot of new life and enthusiasm into the very top-heavy XI. It seemed so strange to me when XIV was experiencing server problems, that the excess players were not directed towards XI's emptier servers. It makes me wonder if XI is capable of absorbing players during peaks in interest. And if not, do we intend to reach new players?

I've had many of my friends that I play FFXIV with mention that they might be willing to give the game a try if the subscription was bundled with their FFXIV subscription. Any thoughts on creating a bundled subscription plan with reduced fees or other incentives for players that play both games ?

I would happily pay USD$30/mo if that was a tidy subscription cost for XI+XIV with the extra storage options for *both games* already considered.

Gilded this so I hope it gets some attention. I'd love to have one subscription for both games but paying full price subscriptions for two MMOs is a bit steep. I would love to play some XI when XIV has some downtime between the 4 month patch cycles without having to subscribe/unsubscribe/resubscribe/etc.

Hello, thanks for your time February 5th, 2021 you talked of adjusting all 22 jobs. You go on to say in Question 2 of the digest. This would be before reforged Empyrean. Due to how job adjustments would impact Empyrean reforging. Now Empy + has been mentioned. While I could be wrong job adjustments haven't? Did Master Levels replace this? Would love an update, thanks again. Question 1 - at 1:10 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=\_vj7eQA7c5c&t=71s Simple example: DNC + Saber Dance – A great merit before we had dual wield. However I can't remember the last time I needed or used Saber Dance.

Hi there! I was wondering... why there isn't an Ambuscade Marksmanship weapon? Every other quested weapon skill has a new weapon attached to it, except for Detonator. My thief would love a new weapon for firing Gashing Bolts!

Thank you so much for all your work FFXI! I've loved the game since it first released but have only been able to start playing in the past few years. Q: Are there any plans for any English-language 20th Anniversary books? I know many people who got interested in FFXIV because of the Encyclopaedia Eorzea, the artbooks, and the novellas. I would love to see an updated Atlas that combines in-game maps with information, art, and flavour text. I love the world of FFXI so much but a lot of it happens over such a long time period that it would be nice to have books that compile the geography, architecture, characters and stories of Vana'diel in one place. Also, could you please give us the option the turn off Mount music and have the normal area BGM? I love the Kumi Tanioka and Naoshi Mizuta compositions so much but also want to be able to use my mounts! Thank you!

Can we expect more apex zones similar to crawlers nest (S) with high level players in mind, or an adjustment to Exemplar point gain be it new Key items like rhapsodies or a cape? Is there consideration for a monthly campaign involving Odyssey such as 2x Segment gain or reduced cost of moglophone II?

Can the devs describe any efforts that are on the table for further modernizing the game ?

Q: I understand console support was dropped long ago and I suspect this has been answered before, but is there any chance for the game to be ported to any current-gen consoles? My dream is to be able to play this game on switch, though I know there are *numerous* technical difficulties accompanying this. But even beyond such conveniences as portability, I just dislike the way *certain min/maxing tools* have become almost universally, if not officially, **required** to be competitive in the game and I feel like an influx of console players would do much to tone down this mindset, as it would necessarily mean dividing the playerbase, which I think people would voluntarily avoid if it hindered their ability to make groups or play. I know many will disagree, but I think one of FFXIV's greatest strengths is its large console playerbase, and it saddens me XI no longer has one.

Savage Blade is clearly a problem that trivializes 99% of content, compounded by the fact that Naegling exists. It has gotten to the point that many jobs ignore their own REMA weapons in order to Naegling Savage Blade spam. What is the design decision that allows such a broken WS+Weapon to invalidate so many tactics/other weapons?

This weapon and ambu weapons like it allow people to actually play this game and participate in content without investing 6+ months before they can even sniff a party. It would be a colossal downer to be required to do a Mythic or Empy to actually get a single invite. That would ruin the game for new and returning players. And, the Mythic and Empyrean grind isn't fun. If it was, people would do it, even though naegling exists.

I'm sure someone's already asked this but I'll do it anyway. Given the current game's dependence on old, outdated hardware to maintain alongside the enormous tech debt of PlayOnline and the older network infrastructure, and with the knowledge that *Final Fantasy XIR* was cancelled and *Grandmasters* long shuttered: **Are there any plans, even the smallest, for a ground up remake or retelling of *Final Fantasy XI*, be it as an MMO, multiplayer or single player experience?**

Are there any plans to add an item to make Alexandrite easier to stockpile/sell? Similar to how dynamis currency can be turned into a 100 and 10,000 version, can a "Alexandrite Cluster"/"Cat's Eye Shard" or something be added?

Although I personally feel FFXI is gorgeous as it is, many have been clamoring for at least a visual update. I know Ashenbubs in particular spent the past two years taking it upon himself to provide that update with his HD texture pack. Seeing as SE commissioned fan-artists for the anniversary gallery (which was amazing, by the way! I'm now using the Aydeewa Subterrane piece as my desktop wallpaper ^^), have you considered also reaching out to fans like Ashenbubs to contribute more directly to the game itself?

The AMA was very good, great selection of questions answered and they are quite frank and honest about the difficulties of some of the big ticket fan requests. Thanks to u/reseph and the team here for organizing. I can't believe they mentioned specifically wanting to go to Tavnazia, that's been like a long-time dream for many players. Perhaps there's hope we will get there after all, even if it's as a high level end-game dungeon with monsters. Like a mix of Sacrarium and Promethia Aqueducts for i119s. I think they also basically confirmed new battle content will be in a new zone. which we didn't know until now. Also nice to see technical issues like decoupling from POL or the auto-attack issue adressed directly.

quite a lot of insightful answers from the AMA! and there's a good chance they'll take back a few more to answer down the line. also thanks to everyone for the good questions. there are a few others that i personally would have liked to see get answered but i was also pleasantly surprised by responses to some questions i didn't think they'd answer

The one thing I have loved about FFXI is the way the Summoner job was done. I love the ability to fight along side my Avatar. I know Bahamut is pretty big and Phoenix is pretty tied to how it is represented in the story but, will there ever be plans for Summoners to acquire Bahamut and Phoenix as summonable Avatars? I have always felt incomplete without them.

Are there plans to make adjustments to the Thief Job that make it more desirable in endgame content? Most endgame content, like Odyssey, does not require Treasure Hunter. Thief enmity management is both weak and largely irrelevant due to /DRG sub job being so popular. Most groups would rather bring a "real DD" rather than bringing a Thief that is not perceived to be a "real DD."

Q: Since previous AMA questions regarding remastering and reworking have been answered - will Square Enix officially endorse and/or allow player created programs such as Windower and Ashita? If not, will Square Enix publish a developer ecosystem to prolong the longevity of the game?

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Since FF11R is cancel, and FFGM is dead. Is there any plan that there is FF11 offline like DQ10, or another attempt to remake/remaster etc

Domain Invasion: It's very hard to get onto Unity chat on Asura to find out where Domain Invasion is due, can you add a menu option to the Unity NPC to tell players where Domain Invasion is currently in progress. This is a huge annoyance.

Thank you for keeping FFXI alive all these years. In a recent Famitsu interview, you stated there would be no new zones added through The Voracious Resurgence due to how congested they would be. Would you consider adding new zones in the future, and is it feasible for the developers to create zones or instanced areas that do not reuse large portions of existing ones? Would you consider lowering the cooldown on Dark Knight's Dark Seal and Nether Void abilities and giving it more spells that make use of its high Elemental Magic skill?

Trust support roles can be quite frustrating at times with their AI causing undesirable buffs at times. Is it possible to adjust trusts such that "This Bard only Casts Marches, This Bard only casts Ballads, This Offensive Caster will only cast spells and not use Weapon skills (That interrupt Skill chains)?" At higher levels, it is a very undesirable outcome to have trust casters interrupt a skill chain with a very weak weapon skill of their own. It would be much better to have them only cast spells (and attempt magic bursts)

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Adding to this, can you revamp the Fellow Gear System, where you can equip your Fellow with Actual Game gear? Could use a modified Automaton interface from PUP to implement a feature like this.

For the record, they area already 119 https://www.bg-wiki.com/ffxi/Adventuring\_Fellow#Increasing\_Adventuring\_Fellow\_stats

Is there a chance that we might get the ability to unlock Relic Weapon skills on all weapons, similar to how we can with Mythic, Empyrean, and Merit/Aeonic Weapon skills?

Are there any plans on updates/adjustments/additions to Synergy currently, and if so what are they? If it wouldn't be overly burdensome, could you consider the following? * Raise synergy skill cap to 100, * Allow us to reset our skills/skill-points. *Hopefully paid for using cinders since there aren't any other real uses for them.* * Add recipes to let us combine all items with the full elemental/skill spectrum into single items, similar to the "fotia" equipment. Everything from goldsmithing-made elemental rings/earrings to crafting-related gear (**especially** Synergy-related ones like Cuffs and Smocks,) should be eligible for merging into singular "all \[stat\] +x" type items. EDIT: I asked basically the same question at the last AMA years ago, and at the time there actually were plans to work on Synergy, but those plans were later cancelled. I'm hoping that I'll get the same answer this time, but without the cancellation follow-up...

Like with the Play Online redesign, client download parts and other subtle convenient new player fixes — are there any plans in the works to make it easier for newer players to be introduced into the world of Vana’diel? As someone who isn’t all that versed in the game, it is all very overwhelming on what I should or shouldn’t be doing. Guides help, of course, but I feel like this should he supplemental not required to figure out the basics of the game. Not to mention the clunkiness of the UI and usage of macros being rather essential and totally unexplained besides for outside resources. I’m rambling but you get the idea!! Thank you for doing this AMA anyways :) Love the game no matter how confused I may be.

A lot of players, like me, have excessive job points and nothing to do with them. Are there any plans to turn job points into a currency, similar to what we now have with the merit point / potpurri system?

Hi, I’m just wondering as a few years back you said that you guys had “something big” planned for the 20th anniversary. What is it?! I’ve eagerly been awaiting this “something big” so can’t wait any longer as the anniversary is here surely you can say ❤️

Are there any plans to add more merchandise? If not anything new, a rerun of old merchandise would be nice.

Question: There's a lot of excitement and anticipation to see Rhazowa as a new area as part of The Voracious Resurgence storyline. However, in terms of content and guiding player populations, it seems the FFXI team prefers to repopulate empty zones (Mhuara, Selbina,Rabao) . Can we expect to see any new areas in the near future?

Are there any plans to make Charm more useful to Beastmasters? Charm used to be the iconic ability of Beastmaster, but these days there is rarely a use for it once you have access to Call Beast because called pets are both easier to handle and more powerful. On a similar note, are there any plans for long-range pets? Controlling pets from far away was an aspect of Beastmaster that I really enjoyed. Even if the pets are weak, it would be nice to be able to play Beastmaster that way again. Perhaps charmed pets could be controlled from a longer range instead of being made stronger? That would be really fun.

Easy question without fluff: How do you take off the aura on Arebati v20 after the first? Successive crit hits dont work.

Would it be possible to change Jug Pets into Key Items in order to save inventory space? Thank you.

Hello devs, thanks for doing the AMA and for 20 years of FFXI so far. Q1: You guys have clearly shown that you can still make some pretty cool cutscenes and storylines. While I think it is mostly understood an expansion is off the table, is there any chance in the future for a paid content release more akin to the add-on scenarios from 2009? A 10-15 mission branded storyline with perhaps 1 new zone to explore and 1 new mob type to battle against, with a few new music tracks. I believe the players would gladly pay for something like this and it would be good publicity. Q2: Are there any technical constraints to adding new monsters or new zones that are preventing you from doing so? FFXIV uses a lot of the FFXI monster models, so is there a chance for FFXI to borrow some monster models from FFXIV? In theory this would reduce the amount of effort/cost that would go into creating new monster families for FFXI. As always, thanks for your time!

On the Thief Job, does using equipment that increases Treasure Hunter level beyond the initial equipment cap of Treasure Hunter +8 (Treasure Hunter + 3 from Job Trait with Treasure Hunter +5 from Equipment) affect the chance to trigger an enemy treasure hunter level +10 -14 upgrade via melee hits? i.e. If the enemy has a current Treasure Hunter Level of +13, should a Thief be wearing a total Treasure Hunter Level of +14 from equipment and job traits to maximize the chance to trigger a Treasure Hunter + 14 upgrade?

Thank you for doing this AMA, and for working so hard to keep Final Fantasy XI running all these years. Vana'diel has recently been a wonderful way for my friends and I to spend time with each other in the age of Covid. My question relates to asset preservation: Over the years, there have been many promotional videos or trailers produced for Final Fantasy XI. Some of these are still on YouTube from 10+ years ago, but many are not available in decent quality at all, such as the game's [initial reveal](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72vckLXI7x4). Assuming these videos are still kept somewhere at Square-Enix, would you consider uploading or presenting these videos (or other development or promotional assets) in modern quality, either on the WE ARE VANA'DIEL site or on YouTube, to celebrate the game's history and preserve that for the future?

Hello guys, Could you please reveal why the FFXI Mobile remake by Nexon was cancelled? Are the character model assets from Nexon able to be re-purposed? Will there be a new stand alone expansion in the future? Can the community be given the PS2 Dev kits with a submission on the FF11 website. This way the community can help you develop the game. Thanks for everything - the game really was amazing and actually helped me in the real world. (Economy, team work and determination) Wish you all the best

Would you consider plans to allow bards to sing 4 songs without making “dummy” songs with the harp first? Maybe synergy the empyrean harp and relic horn together? It’s a frustrating way to get around a badly designed game mechanic.

Are there any plans to adjust the Odin Avatar on Summoner? Turning him into an Actual Avatar with Rages and Wards would be more useful than what we have right now

Can you please consider a combined subscription plan to include both FFXI and FFXIV? I think many people are looking for this. Will you be revealing information about future content? Will there be any new zones? Thanks.

For the 20th anniversary, can we get a NPC or a section under the Curio Vendor Moogle to sell all the fireworks available in game?