Check out the hottest topics from the past week of the FFXIV general forum.

Time for another edition of Hot Read Thursday… too bad there isn’t anything to talk about! Yes, I’m joking. Just hours after posting last week’s Hot Read Thursday, the famed Yoshi-P finally broke the development team’s silence about upcoming improvements for Final Fantasy XIV. Assuming everything he said happens – and there’s no reason to doubt his words – then Eorzea is about to get a lot more fun. In the meantime, forum discussions have kicked up a notch, probably because people are now aware that brighter days are coming. This week’s highlighted threads feature an item pertaining to Yoshi-P’s announcement, a discussion about the old ways of leveling in FFXI, and whether anyone in Eorzea today has any reason to level at all.

Now, on with the links:

Title: Official Forums Coming: Thank GOD...

Anything that actually improves communication between the development team and FFXIV players is a good thing, but I have to wonder how much more that will happen with these forums. I guess it depends on whether Square Enix hires English-speaking moderators who have the authority to respond to discussions in real-time, without needing to seek translated comments anytime they want to post. Otherwise, I don’t see how these will be an improvement over what the fan sites offer. If the official forums are too heavily moderated (or censored), then they won’t be as thought-provoking or entertaining. If they’re not moderated enough, then they may not be useful. Given how little freedom SE’s North American community representatives have had to speak freely in the past, I’m curious to see how these official forums pan out.

Title: Bring back the old leveling style?

This poster brings up a solid point that what made Final Fantasy XI special was the time we spent leveling together. It always did feel like a journey, didn’t it? That said, other posters disagree, stating they would prefer a game that isn’t such a grind. The second poster in the thread eloquently states, “I’d rather have my genitals put through a meat slicer than return to pure grind.” Even though I disagree, I can’t help but love the imagery of that comment. You probably won’t find writing of that caliber on the official forums!

Title: Any point to leveling now?

Guess who leveled Dark Knight in FFXI? In this angsty post, the OP asks whether there’s any point in leveling our classes if anything can change at any time. I’ve got to admit, I was struggling with my own inner demons about this very issue, right up until Yoshi-P promised there would be no rollbacks. Now, I level with reckless abandon – I dinged my first level 20 job last night! Fine, so I’m leveling with reckless abandon. At least I’m over my leveling angst.