Update text is frequently confusing!

Hi SE!
I just want to say thank you for your hard work and keeping the game that we love so much (FFXI) alive in 2025. Your hard work is appreciated and please, keep on, keeping on!

I wanted to share two examples of recent updates that are just very confusing for English speakers. Both of these updates suffer from a grammatical mistake called "faulty parallelism" or "parallelism error". It just means that the word "and" is meant to link two parallel (similar in structure and meaning) things, but the reader may not be able to infer the correct relationship despite the use of the word "and".

In the announcement for the May 2025 update (posted on 04/28/2025) says:

Quote:

---

May brings with it adjustments to the level cap and a new morale gauge feature for Besieged, and a reduction of some costs when reforging artifact and relic armor.

---

1.) Here the reader expects everything joined by the word "and" to apply back cleanly to Besieged — but it doesn't. As it is currently written, it implies there will be separate "adjustments to the level cap" and "a new morale gauge feature for Besieged". However, I don't think this is your intended meaning? :confused: (But please, If I am wrong and you mean there will be new adjustments to the level cap as well as a new morale gauge feature for Besieged ...then that is great news to read! Until then, I will not hold my breath :p )

Similarly, the New Year's greeting posted on 01/01/2025 says:

Quote:

---

While we will continue to examine and confirm the relevant details, we have decided to make improvements such as additional automaton attachments and blue magic sets a priority.

---

2.) In this second quote, we have the same situation. I think you mean to say that sets will be created for Blue Magic and Automation attachments, respectively. As it's currently written, it implies that we will see new automaton attachments and sets for blue magic. (Of course, if I'm misreading this, please feel free to clarify! ....Until them, I will image the cries of joy from 1,000 puppet masters all across Vana'diel, at the thought of receiving new automaton attachments in 2025. (i.e. multi-step Skillchain logic would be nice).

Anyway, thank you for reading. I hope you'll find the time to make these announcements clearer. Your help and understanding is GREATLY appreciated for both current and future updates! Thank you for all that you do!

Quote:

---

1.)(But please, If I am wrong and you mean there will be new adjustments to the level cap as well as a new morale gauge feature for Besieged ...then that is great news to read! Until then, I will not hold my breath https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/i...ies/tongue.png ) ".

---

I don't see an issue here. It certainly seems like that's exactly what they mean- What else could either of these things be attached to?
The only other way I could see reading it is "adjustments to the level cap" not being a Besieged thing, but we know they aren't talking about changing the player level cap, so... While this sentence isn't the best, because we can logically rule out "adjustments to the level cap" as being for player characters" we can deduce the intended structure.

Quote:

---

As it's currently written, it implies that we will see new automaton attachments and sets for blue magic

---

Which is exactly what they are saying. I don't find this confusing. I don't think there's ever been any discussion about a an automaton attachment set feature (which, I like the sound of, but I haven't seen a conversation about this).
The key in this sentence is the s in "attachments" and the If it read-

Quote:

---

we have decided to make improvements such as additional automaton attachment and blue magic sets a priority.

---

it would be easier to see this as "automaton attachment sets" and "blue magic sets" as two features. But because they said "automaton attachments" it doesn't make sense to attach "sets" to this because that would be a double plural. I suppose you could awkwardly word it as "sets for automaton attachments" to make it work, but... yeah. I was not confused by this. Clearly they were talking about two seperate things. I don't feel they committed any grammatical error here. "We have decided to make improvements such as Thing A and Thing B a priority" is grammatically valid and should not be confusing. However, if it was me writing it, maybe I'd say "We have decided to prioritize improvements such as blue magic sets and new automaton attachments."