Optimistic Speculation on Specialization + Links

[giantslayer]

There is a more thorough/accurate translation of the Famitsu interview on Bluegartr:

http://www.bluegartr.com/threads/125...29-Translation

Yoshi was very clear that at the heart of the changes is a return to the original Armoury system wherein a class can be viable by itself without having to level 7 other classes with it (do you have to level every single DoW to 50 to be able to raid on one of them?). If you want to level them all, you can, but if you only want to level one, you can do just that. Yoshi is basically admitting that the hardcore implementation of 3-4* crafting got out of hand and they are moving away from that. I think it is important that we keep that in mind as we speculate.

Some things that are clear in this translation:
1. There will be two types of tokens tentatively called "red coins" and "blue coins." (It is not 100% clear, but it is reasonable to assume one token will be for crafting and the other for gathering.)
2. Tokens can be used to acquire equipment as an alternative to the hardcore max-melding we are accustomed to (which will still be a viable option and a faster route to the top).
3. Tokens can be exchanged for items of some sort. (This mechanism is presumably there to give some sort of use to these things for people who have the gear already.)

It seems the token system is primarily concerned with helping the casuals gear up. This seems similar to the Artisan turn-in gear, although the tokens will probably be a little easier to make. I predict we will see a return to class-specific gear, at least for the token stuff (I could see the melded gear going either way).

My previous prediction about near BiS crafted battle gear being tied to the token system and untradeable doesn't sound plausible in light of the stated uses for the tokens.

The Crunchyroll interview stated:
"Some of the recipes in Final Fantasy XIV are extremely difficult to achieve or attain. We're also working to make sure that even someone who is casual crafter will be rewarded as well. So with launch of Heavensward, you'll still be able to take on the challenge of difficult recipes, but we want to give players the option to take things a little bit at the time. Strengthen your equipment and then eventually be able to tackle those harder recipes."

Looks like the difficulty curve will be designed such that hardcore crafters can start tackling the new recipes pretty quickly and it will be a challenge, which we are quite accustomed to by now lol. Casuals will need to gear up with tokens or else it will be too difficult.