I just want a FF11 modern game.

[Jeeqbit]

The devs have spoken on multiple occasions about how they bought out the remaining stock of PS2 Devkits are aren't really sure what they will do when the last ones breaks. It absolutely is not as simple as "just port it to a different engine lol".

I didn't mean it was simple. I meant the method in which they go about it determines how much work it is and how complicated it is. The way I was referring to would leave the server code and methods as is, given that is the where the real decisions are made and will be incredibly complex by this point. The only thing that really needs to change is how it looks and is presented to players. They already adapt the FF14 client for other purposes without issue.

Another example is they need to hide references to PlayOnline while logging in as much as possible, since most of that could all be done behind the scenes. I've no doubt their server still expects it all to occur, we just don't need to see it as much.

No, they don't. We used to have blunt, piercing and slashing damage like FFXI but that has been removed.

Physical Damage is indicated with a sword icon (moreover, I think parries still only work against physical damage which you can test on Gunbreaker).

Elemental damage up will go on you if you enter a lot of high end duties. This happens in Sophia Extreme for example. The idea of this is it makes you significantly more vulnerable to its elemental damage, which is why a tankswap is required.

We once had elemental defenses listed in our character window, and had elemental materia and pots for defense. These were all removed, but it doesn't mean the stats are not in the game - just our ability to see and interact with them is significantly more limited than it was in Heavensward. A lot of enemy attacks were always elemental, despite that nobody bothered stacking elemental defenses.

FFXI is fine as it is.

I spent a few hours trying to navigate out of the starting city. No matter what I did, the User Interface was so bad it made me appreciate FFXIV's in ways I never imagined I would. I'm sure it's fine for people who are used to it, but it's not for people who would rather get into a modern version of it.