what makes you think westerners like bunny hopping? That's just a bad implementation of jumping which almost nobody supports. If people call for jumping, they want realistic jumping.
The only reason I hit cap in XI was the story Gifthorse...
In my opinion they should make this game for MMO players first, but they should treat FF fans frequently. Introduce familiar FF names to make FF fans enjoy the nostalgia and general familiarity with the story and such, but have it play like a MMO. One thing Square is really good at is story telling, and I think a good story with familiar characters will go a long way. But ultimately when it comes down to it, this is an MMORPG and will pull first from the pool of MMO players, second from FF players. Therefore it should play like an MMORPG and not like a console FF game.
Not all 7 million Final Fantasy fans are MMO gamers, and nothing SE does will change that.
Even with a PS3 release to address a larger percentage of the FF fanbase, there are going to be a lot of FF gamers who balk at paying monthly to play.
That said, there are already millions of PC gamers who play MMOs, who are okay with the idea.
Target the market you know exists.
Especially since FFXI was already an MMO designed to appeal to and capitalize on FF fans, and it still only maintained 500k subs.
Edit: It is very possible to create a recognizably FF game with mechanics designed to appeal to MMO gamers.
Seeing how its called final fantasy, one would deduce that it should follow that sort of lore. It should be tailored for fans of the series, but be good enough that people unfamiliar will play it as well.
So far... sorta missing out on both of those.
This game needs to be tailored for both or it will lose their most dedicated players(look at ffxi and how it still is online). It does need to be tailored for MMO players so the game won't feel so aged in some years like ffxi also. It will also bring in alot more people which can only make the game alot better
I believe it should stick to FF style isn't that why most of us play the games? If you wanna play a mainstream MMO there's plenty others to choose from.
I think if you forgo too many of the FF staples it would change the feel of this as a Final Fantasy game. The skill bar is a huge change for FF fans as it is, but at least they implemented it will to co-mingle with both MMO and Final Fantasy fans.