More questions and answers from BG.

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1. Will Archer/Ranger get a proper auto attack or still be forced to punch with their fist, anineffective method of fighting for someone with a bow?

We are currently looking into this for the class revamps that we will implemented in patch 1.20. This is something that has been requested by many people, so we have given it much thought, but it may take us a while to solve this due to the problem of expending arrows. We will continue to work towards a solution.

2. How long will we have to wait to see the new 2.0 engine in movement?

It’s difficult to determine exactly when we’ll be able to reveal it to the public. The graphics engine will be completed internally by the development team by December 2011. However, the client will be worked on until February 2012 and we have to perform graphic-related quality adjustments before we release it to the public. We feel that players would be disappointed if we don’t release a more finalized version by performing shader and ambient adjustments and balancing the HUD. We would like to present our new engine when it is close to being finalized. Development is going smoothly.

3. On the concept screenshot of the UI, the party unit frames and general UI seem vastly improved. However there are two glaring features that seem to be missing. One, the multiple action bars on screen at all times seems to have been forgotten, and two, the party unit frames have very abstract buff/debuffs. Timers on the unit frames are a welcome sight, but aside from protect and shell, I cannot differentiate anything about the buffs/debuffs. Will they be hoverable with tooltip information? What happened with showing multiple action bars on the screen at one time? Toggling the action bar is incredibly inefficient for PC users.

Our recently released UI screenshot is simply a representation of the default settings. It would have been possible to display multiple action bars, but we felt that doing so would take up too much screen space and hide parts of the characters. As such, we only displayed one action bar. Also, a help pop up will be displayed when you mouseover the icons. This function has been implemented in the current client and is pending text entry. Thus, you will not have to wait until 2.0, as we are planning a patch 1.20 or 1.20a release. Buffs/debuffs will also be easier to understand.

4. The current build of XIV has underutilized going inside buildings. Most of the shops are outside in tiny stalls. Will 2.0 utilize buildings as actual objects that we can traverse inside, or will buildings still remain a graphical box that we just look at?

Buildings will definitely be utilized more as objects that can be explored. Previously, we had issues with scheduling and memory that prevented us from developing the insides of buildings, but in general we plan on developing the insides of buildings in the future. Of course there will still be buildings that you can’t enter, but we plan on greatly increasing the number of buildings that you can traverse inside.

5. Several important content filling topics listed on the 2.0 PDFs are coming "after 2.0." How long "after 2.0" are we talking for many of these features?

This depends on the content and system, but basically all of the content and system functions we revealed recently are our highest priority items, so we plan on implementing them in rapid succession within 2 months of the release of 2.0. In the early stages of 2.0, raid expansions, housing and PvP will be implemented.

6. Will you implement walking/active/talking NPCs, by way of adding some life to the cities/world?

Yes, in 2.0, NPCs will be more involved in conversations and there will be increased animations all around. Our new engine will allow all NPCs to be active, but it may get irritating if NPCs move around too much, so only certain NPCs will be updated. We plan on adding more life to the world through these changes.

7. Will there be a reputation system where the game acknowledges that you have saved the world multiple times and isn’t some random adventurer walking down the street?

We have thought about this, but we will prioritize ranking based on achievements and ladder ranking. We feel like the ranking system is very similar to a reputation system.

8. Will you abolish the silly 'One character, one content ID, more money" rule so that people can have multiple alts on one subscription?

This is an issue that we are currently looking into. A concept of a play time card is also necessary, so we are looking at this progressively. We may also offer a billing package of basic subscription + multiple characters. However, these changes will be reflected with the release of 2.0. We will announce the details as soon as we decide on them.