Yoshi-P, the game director of Final Fantasy 14, wants to shake up the game in future.

Final Fantasy 14 Dawntrail was met with a mixed response, mainly due to its middling story, which has some glaring flaws. Despite some improvements in the dungeons and bosses, there are still a few persistent problems that, based on what I've heard from more critical members of the community, have been frustrating for a long time.

I've noticed that FF14 seems to be stuck in a rut mechanically. While direct competitors such as World of Warcraft are experimenting with new mechanics, like the Warbands System, and implementing ad-hoc modes like MoP remix, Etheirys hasn't changed much.

The questing has been largely the same over the years: Click on two items, go here, fight an opponent that takes half your opener before it explodes, and while Dawntrail had a few decent solo missions, they were too few to make things lag. The patch cadence has remained mostly the same. The only thing that has changed in FATEs open-world is the Shared Fate system. This allows players to grind for a certain amount of time.

FF14 innovates very slowly. It's not that we haven’t seen new ideas, but each one had its own set of problems. Island Sanctuaries, for example, was cute at first but ended up being a passive spreadsheet simulator. The first time around, Variant Dungeons was a lot of fun, but it suffered from poor reward structures.

I spoke to the director of the game, Naoki Yoshida, during Gamescom. We discussed the overall reception of the story and what to do about the Scions of the Seventh Dawn. But something he said at the end of our interview surprised me as well: It seems like Yoshi-P wants to shake things up.

"We've been able carry out various preparations and now have a stabile state of things in game. I view 7.0 in that respect as a culmination.

He's right--despite my complaints, Endwalker did do a lot of work to incrementally improve the experience for new players, with tweaks to dungeons, and duties, in the game's introduction content, A Realm Reborn. Dawntrail then added a major graphic overhaul, which was no doubt a lot of work.

"I want to make more changes in the next expansion. I don't wish to be conservative, but I do want to offer a gaming experience that is appealing to modern gamers. In order to achieve this, I would like a variety of changes. I will also protect the things that must be protected. We are currently discussing new possibilities in the team and I am very excited about it."

Context is important: This was the end of our conversation, so I'm sure Yoshi was being vague to avoid making any promises. We also ran out of time for more details and follow-ups.

His words here are at least in line with what he has said before about reworking Dawntrail's jobs, and moving away from homogeneity, and the two-minute meta. It's another thing whether his team is given the resources to do that. MMOs accounted for 68% of Square Enix operating profits. This is a company which has released a lot of mainstream games. FF14 is a profitable game, but it is not clear if the money is being invested to improve it.

Yoshi-P says that just because these promises are for later, doesn't mean he isn't excited about what's to come: "So, of course, we are planning different changes to the mechanics in the next extension, but even for the existing expansion, from patch 7.1, we have a great deal of new content planned." He mentions the upcoming limited-time job, Beastmaster. "I can't give any details yet, but I think it's going to be great. So, there's plenty that players can expect."