New FFXIV info is available on the Lodestone from today. Read below for all the news, taken from the Lodestone.

" Hello everyone! Yoshi-P here with another post for all you FFXIV-ers. Well, looks like we’re already here at the end of 2011.

I’d first like to apologize to all of you who have been looking forward to 1.20. We had to delay the patch because of some last-minute bugs, and things ended up being a couple days later than we intended, but we hope you all enjoy playing over the holidays! We’ve also received a lot of feedback from you guys on the difficulty of getting triggers for the new moogle battle, so we’ll be making some changes to that in patch 1.20a, which will be out before year’s end.

As some of you know, September 2011 marked the one-year anniversary of FINAL FANTASY XIV’s release. This month marks another anniversary of sorts—it’s been one year since I came onto the project in the roles of producer and director.

It’s honestly been the quickest, toughest, and funnest year of my game-developing life. Being able to communicate with so many players and develop the game with all of your support was a first-time experience for me, and it’s truly been both encouraging and reassuring. So let me give you a nice, big thank you for that!

I’ve made impossible demands on the development team, operations team, and other departments related to FFXIV during the Earth’s latest orbit around the sun. Every time I have, I’ve told them it’s all for you, the players, and every time they’ve risen to the occasion and really given it their all. Thank you!

2012 will see us making even larger strides and will prove to be an even bigger test for FFXIV.

We’re already working on content for the year’s first patch, 1.20b, and developing the job system, job quests, and new dungeons (there’s two of them!) slated for 1.21 at the same time, so our schedule is absolute pandemonium at this point. (Job-specific weapons are lined up for after 1.21, and we’re making sure getting them will entail a bit of difficulty! )

As we ring in the New Year, we’ll also be ringing in the start of base QA on the battle system for the version 2.0 client. In addition, we’ve already begun tackling memory issues as we work on the new UI, and tasks for the new rare item lotting system are underway, too. We’re also examining some new race and gender additions, and it’s looking like we’ll be able to bring in a few new customizable options in time for 2.0’s release (I fielded some questions on this in the LIVE letter). Mockups for player “estate” areas are moving along, and we’re now working on some of those artsy details. So that’s pretty much where we’re at. Together with our regular updates to the game in 2012, I’ll continue to bring you reports on our progress with 2.0. I hope you all look forward to them!



(Oh, btw, here’s a look at the exclusive gear sets for the new jobs coming in patch 1.21. )

I’d like to wrap up this letter by thanking you all once again for both playing FFXIV, and inspiring and encouraging the whole team here in 2011.

We’re determined to keep on keeping on as we move into the New Year, and to have fun while we do it.

See you soon!
Happy holidays everyone! And I hope to see you all in Eorzea!
Talk to you next letter, or on the forums. See you soon! "