A little project of mine (ideal expansion)
Without announcements about future expansions "in the works", no new zones or jobs are in the foreseeable future. Recent "Add-on Scenario" content has been very short (ACP, MKE, ASA) & lacking an in-depth story (Abyssea). The selection of endgame content is very limited now, since many events have been made obsolete by Abyssea. So, in my free time, I went to work on some ideas to bring new life to FFXI's gameplay (including new jobs and endgame activities) and the basis for a story that significantly ties all the storylines together (and provides a basis for my job suggestions).
I'm fully aware that this is a ton of text and most of it likely won't get translated and presented to the developers unless there is enough positive feedback for the ideas presented. I can only hope the people who do translate this sort of thing like the ideas enough to translate it all because they want to see it happen as much as me!
You say they can't add this much more due to PS2 limitations? This would break the budget for programmers and artists? We have too many things that need fixing so don't add anything new? -- These objections are irrelevant to what I'd "like" to see. I did not have to conduct a feasibility study on each of the ideas I have put forth; they're my personal "ideal" additions to the game.
Due to the 10,000 character limit per post, I've had to break it up into several smaller posts. I guess one benefit is that people can "like" the parts that they like, and not others. I'll attempt to go back and edit posts to add links between appropriate topics and other posts/threads I've made, to keep things together (and possibly to add more formatting and hidden button tags). Ideally, nobody else will post in the linked thread until I'm done putting forth the entire idea (there should be about 60 consecutive posts here (very few actually reach the 10,000 character limit, they were just broken up at understandable breaks in thought for cohesive presentation of ideas. They also leave room for future elaboration.)
New Expansion(s)/Add-on Series:
Final Fantasy XI: Whims of the Simulacrum
Final Fantasy XI: Warriors of the Crystal (series of 4)
Includes:
Full storyline (CoP style/length)
New Zones
At least 3 new endgame events
A merit system upgrade/replacement
New Jobs
New Summons
+ more.
I've placed the majority of my posts on this topic in the "Missions and Quests" section of the forum.(link) This post is to raise awareness of that post since hardly anybody reads any forum outside of General Discussion, and this topic would just get lost in the constant stream of threads produced there.