Final Fantasy XI : Q&A with Square/Enix
Dialogue, 2004-07-12

MMORPGDot: Marriage was a recent addition to the world of Vana D'iel, and by all accounts it is very popular. What prompted Square/Enix to add a marriage ceremony to FFXI ? Was it designed to encourage community building and roleplaying, or has this feature been in the works from the beginning?

Square/Enix: We felt that the presence of a "wedding" feature would allow for a deeper overall role-playing experience for all those involved , but the main reason we added it was because so many players requested the service.

MMORPGDot: The Ballista events also seem to be looked on favorably by players. How does the development team see the current rounds of Ballista going? Are things moving forward as you'd hoped? I know statistics must vary across the servers, but which kingdom appears to be in the lead right now?

Square/Enix: We believe that the Ballista events have been successful so far. We encountered a number of issues along the way, but the June 29th upgrade should have everything running smoothly. 

As far as statistics go, San d'Oria and Windurst are tied in regards to winning percentage. Bastok is a little bit behind. We understand that players are also interested in other various statistics and we are working on a way to present that information to players.

 

MMORPGDot: Can you speak to where the competitive aspects of Final Fantasy XI might be going? Are future events going to feature more large scale game-like additions (similar to Ballista), or will a more militaristic or dueling aspect begin to emerge?

Square/Enix: We have plans for other Conflict (PvP) events besides Ballista, but there's nothing we can officially talk about yet. For the time being, we'll be improving Ballista to make it more enjoyable for participants.

MMORPGDot: The events the Moogles have been putting on have become more and more ingenious of late. How has participation in these events been among adventurers? Can you mention any occasions the Moogles might be looking forward to during the rest of the year?

Square/Enix: We can't go into too much detail, but so far, our data shows that more than half of all players attend each Moogle event. The Moogles are whipping up another event even as we speak ... and it's an interesting one, to say the least! To give you a hint, it's got something to do with Far Eastern culture and summertime. For more information, keep your eyes open for Moogle-related updates.

 

MMORPGDot: Given the amount of content that will be in the new expansion, I imagine that there are going to be a lot of new threads to puzzle out in Vana D'iel. That said, can you share with us any overall themes that the expansion concentrates on?

Square/Enix: Some of the new features to be introduced in Chains of Promathia include action-packed ferries with multiple routes, trap-filled battlefields, hidden worlds that do not appear on any map, and much, much more!

 

Many thanks again to Square/Enix for answering our question. Keep your eyes on MMORPGDot in the future for coverage of Final Fantasy XI and the new Chains of Promethea expansion.