Whenever these things come up and I don't have a good answer, I like to just throw out some wild speculation. That way it's viewed as a joke if I'm wrong, but I'll be seen as a powerful wizard on the off chance that I'm right. Â
4.0 will not raise the level cap, and will not be a linear progression like 2.x->3.x. Instead, it will be another level 60 expansion which will take place semi-simultaneously (as far as the in-universe timeline) with the Dragonsong War, in a different part of the world.Â
The reason for this is that Yoshida has decided to go ahead with his idea of overhauling the battle system. This could just be general class reworks (like WoW used to do when they were modernizing their old classes), or something that changes everything, on the magnitude of when they added jobs back 1.something. Yoshida did mention the idea of building a class system where you choose abilities as you level, which in turn determines your job. We may see that.Â
So why does this require us to stay at level 60? Well, overhauling the entire combat/class system while still producing new content simultaneously will certainly take more time than they're willing to wait to push a new expansion, given that they're aiming for yearly releases and a 3 month patch cycle. Where this gets tricky is that if they up the level cap to 70, as they would logically do, it delays their overhaul even further. Another 10 levels means a shitload more time they have to spend adding new abilities to the current system, and balancing those abilities. Additionally, they have to factor 10 more levels into their overhaul. If they keep the cap at 60, they just have to get the current balance stabilized and never touch it again. Then they can focus 100% of their efforts on the new system.Â
It is worth mentioning that Yoshida said there would probably more jobs for 4.0. However, I see these being pretty half-assed when released, something like 'generic tank/dps/healer with a different weapon and 1 original mechanic'. Of course, overhaul rolls around, and we finally see what those jobs were meant to be.Â
Now, assuming all of the above is true, SE would be wise to release this update 1 patch before 5.0, or more. Basically, throw it out during one of the casual 24-man patches, so everybody has time to figure things out before the next hardcore raid hits. Frankly, I thought they should have done this with the Ninja release, but they didn't manage to finish it until FCoB came out.
4.0 will not raise the level cap, and will not be a linear progression like 2.x->3.x. Instead, it will be another level 60 expansion which will take place semi-simultaneously (as far as the in-universe timeline) with the Dragonsong War, in a different part of the world.Â
The reason for this is that Yoshida has decided to go ahead with his idea of overhauling the battle system. This could just be general class reworks (like WoW used to do when they were modernizing their old classes), or something that changes everything, on the magnitude of when they added jobs back 1.something. Yoshida did mention the idea of building a class system where you choose abilities as you level, which in turn determines your job. We may see that.Â
So why does this require us to stay at level 60? Well, overhauling the entire combat/class system while still producing new content simultaneously will certainly take more time than they're willing to wait to push a new expansion, given that they're aiming for yearly releases and a 3 month patch cycle. Where this gets tricky is that if they up the level cap to 70, as they would logically do, it delays their overhaul even further. Another 10 levels means a shitload more time they have to spend adding new abilities to the current system, and balancing those abilities. Additionally, they have to factor 10 more levels into their overhaul. If they keep the cap at 60, they just have to get the current balance stabilized and never touch it again. Then they can focus 100% of their efforts on the new system.Â
It is worth mentioning that Yoshida said there would probably more jobs for 4.0. However, I see these being pretty half-assed when released, something like 'generic tank/dps/healer with a different weapon and 1 original mechanic'. Of course, overhaul rolls around, and we finally see what those jobs were meant to be.Â
Now, assuming all of the above is true, SE would be wise to release this update 1 patch before 5.0, or more. Basically, throw it out during one of the casual 24-man patches, so everybody has time to figure things out before the next hardcore raid hits. Frankly, I thought they should have done this with the Ninja release, but they didn't manage to finish it until FCoB came out.
