The "letter from the director" was/is a PR stunt, that pretty much did nothing except give some fanbois something to look at with stary eyes. I doubt many XI players would be as intrested in personalities in the same way.

FFXI doesn't really need that kind of silly stunts honestly. They posted a roadmap of planned content though, even though it's really incredibly weak and contentless (cause they don't have the money to develop stuff anymore, thx FFXIV!).