Cait Sith....meh?

[FaeQueenCory]

And you would think they would give phoenix raise and reraise being the bird of rebirth/resurrection " Associated with the sun, a phoenix obtains new life by arising from the ashes of its predecessor."

She has the RRs because She's the Tears of Altana. (still want an explanation for why the ubergoddess cries kitties)
And the Tears of Altana were tasked with revitalizing the dead future to one of life and prosperity.

With Cait Sith, you can pretty much bet that Phoenix is never coming to the game.

Don't be so sure.
If Phoenix were to be added, She would not be a full summon.
She's so fragmented that She can't even manifest a physical Avatar.
So she'd be relegated to Odin and Alexander style.
Also, having multiple Avatars of the same element (even being able to summon them) is nothing new.

Besides all that... Phoenixes in FF have never been just about the RR.... they're all about the explosion that gives you raise.

I would not be too surprised if Cait Sith is actually a beta test for Phoenix.
Because her 2hr pimps Arise to the dead, and RR3 to the living... and that's some complicated programming... ESPECIALLY for FFXI which is +10yrs old... that's like being 10000yrs old for computers!
Factoring in a AoE heavy fire damage effect on top of that... you're looking at some complicated math where the base effects will need to be hammered out first.
If anything, Cait Sith's 2hr INCREASES the chance of Phoenix being implemented: because now there is no technological wall preventing arise-ga to the dead and RR3-ga to the living at the same time.