Consoles are holding this game back (graphically)

[BristolRuss]

this is a possibility. however it's a huge risk.
on the other hand they could do a census with PC players asking them for a submission the specs of their PC. it wouldnt be hard to do either they could have them use the benchmark and submit the file it produces(when you save the results).

The minimum specs will need to be updated eventually. They can't be using the same hardware limitations in a few years. I saw this article on WoW's minimum specs from 1.0 up to WoD and thought it was pretty apt.
http://kotaku.com/world-of-warcraft-...-lo-1638506551

A census would be a good idea actually. It would certainly make it easy to find out what kind of hardware the community is running and what kind of base line to set.

[Wildsprite]

The minimum specs will need to be updated eventually. They can't be using the same hardware limitations in a few years. I saw this article on WoW's minimum specs from 1.0 up to WoD and thought it was pretty apt.

it took them a long time to update the minimum specs for WoW though, 10 years. I can't see them waiting quite so long with FFXIV, maybe 5 years tops.
who knows maybe they will change the minimum specs for 4.0. that is speculated to be a couple years off, who knows.

[BristolRuss]

it took them a long time to update the minimum specs for WoW though, 10 years.

They have actually updated the minimum specs with every expansion (see link), the Kotaku article was just meant to highlight the vast difference between vanilla WoW and where it is now. If you look at the link I just posted you will see the very first expansion doubled the minimum RAM required from 256mb to 512mb (1GB if you were a Vista user). The third expansion went from a minimum of 512mb to 2GB. Games have to adapt and grow to keep up with the times. And this is especially true for MMO's. Yoshi-P had this to say on the PS3 in February 2014:

"Regarding future of PS3 version:

Do you plan to continue to support the PS3 version even after the PS4 version is released?

Y: At this moment, we've already begun work on the expansion pack, and I can tell you that at the very least the PS3 version will be supported up to that point.

Does that mean there's a possibility that PS3 users will no longer be able to continue playing beyond that expansion?

Y: It may be a possibility in the future.

How far off in the future are we talking about here?

Y: That will depend on how long people continue to play on the PS3. I've mentioned in the presentation this morning that I want to make sure that "FFXIV continues to innovate", and there's certainly the possibility that whatever innovation we seek will come with certain technical requirements. For example in EQN, which I mentioned earlier, it would not be possible to realize certain things like physic-based gameplay without meeting the hardware prerequisites. So if this becomes something that players want and we start to see people leave for rival products, then we can't just sit around twiddling our thumbs either. After all, we too need to ensure we have the necessary weapons to take on other MMORPGs in the future.
For example, if we were to have a large-scale FATE where players can ride on a flying mount and freely fly around and swoop down at a dragon that is 200 meters long, players would probably be impressed and entertained. However, it would also require us to raise the minimum requirement when it comes to hardware specs.
Our aim has always been to develop the game so that players can have the same experience no matter which hardware they play on. However, if we were to become too fixated on this and become unable to innovate, then this will cease to be a FF game. So I do not plan to say that we will support the PS3 version forever. At the same time, I'm not saying that we'll be ending support by next year or anything like that either, so don't worry."

For the game to grow and adapt it ultimately needs a higher minimum baseline to work with. For PC's this will mean raising the minimum requirements, and for consoles it will mean dropping PS3 support. I'm hoping that will be done in time for the next expansion so they can deliver something incredible.