Billing has begun & Looking to the future - 1.21 and beyond

No one wants to have to start paying for FFXIV but it probably is about time.  The game was free for a good long while.  We are a little surprised they didn't wait for 1.21 as that seems to be the patch that will make this a real Final Fantasy game.

With 1.20 and 1.20a out and while they had some good stuff they were more of "fixing things" patches than content patches.

We wanted remind ourselves and our readers of the new content they promised us before 2.0 in the Final Fantasy XIV Roadmap:

·Early February 2012 - Patch 1.21 (and subsequent hotfixes)

Creation of Private Rooms (Inns, etc.) / Hamlet defense PvE content
The job system (7 jobs plus related quests and gear) / Personal chocobo gear
Two new instanced raids

·Mid April 2012 - Patch 1.22 (and subsequent hotfixes)
Garuda (Primal) battle./ Battle system balance adjustments
Garlean Empire battle content


·Early to Mid July 2012 - Patch 1.23 (and subsequent hotfixes)
Garlean Empire Legatus battle
Content surrounding the Twelve mythos



*The aforementioned content is only a fraction of the new features we have planned for the coming patches.
*Detailed patch schedules and outlines will be released on the Lodestone once fixed

We are only going to discuss patch 1.21 today. Not a whole lot is know about anything other than the job system at this time. Some of us are dying for some information to be presented by the devs.

This needs to be the patch that keeps us busy and it better be fun. Billing will have begun by then and players aren't going to pay to stand around in town in their JSE. We hope that much of the new content requires work to complete and that there is some good storytelling going on as we make our way through it. We also hope some of it is repeatable and retains its fun upon repeating.

Creation of Private Rooms (Inns, etc.)
Hopefully "Private Rooms" aren't just like FFXI rental rooms you got in other cities. We havent see any discussion from the devs about furniture or anything. We are not sure what function they will serve or if they are just adding them because we missed our Mog houses.

Hamlet defense PvE content

This could be good and give us a reason to visit those little hamlets. Now that we have Chocobos it is faster and easier than ever to travel to them. We are hoping it is a little more involved than fighting off wave after wave of Garlean troops. Our highest hope is that there will someday be enough in and around the hamlets to keep you busy for an entire chunk of playtime.

The job system (7 jobs plus related quests and gear)

We are completely excited about the new jobs and related quests and gear.  I cannot wait for Kariri to be the Paladin she wants to be, and I the White Mage.  We love the teaser picture of the JSE and cannot wait to see everyone running around wearing theirs.  See our earlier post for our opinions in the dyeing discussion. The monk and warrior WS videos look pretty awesome.

Personal chocobo gear

We're not sure what benefit the Personal Chocobo gear will have, hopefully more than just cosmetic. 

Two new instanced raids

Two new raids to try out our job goodness is a welcome addition.  We sort of hope that one of those is a 25 raid and the other 45.  Even though we have the classes we are really interested in to 50, we need more mid level content. 

Again, we hope all of this content is served up with excellent storytelling and require actual work to achieve useful rewards.

And  at the risk of repeating ourselves, new info about 1.21 from the devs would be VERY welcome.