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FFXI Team Working On New MMOG
Gamespot has the word that the team behind Final Fantasy XI is working on a new game in the Massive genre. From the article: "Tanaka declined to comment on whether the MMORPG in development will be a successor to FFXI or a new product. He did confirm that the technical demonstration shown for the Xbox 360 during E3 was one of the experiments his development team had created to see what kind of graphics a next-generation console could achieve."
Pretty much agreed.
There're the people who are sure they have the one true way, and in all fairness are probably, within the rules of the game, right, but require the exact proper setup to get there. When they don't have that, they tend to break down due to lack of versatility. The better NA players and, I've heard, most of the high-level better Japanese players tend to be like this---after a year and a half of playing, I'm still only lv.40 on my main, with the other people I get detailed play reports from topping out at 55, so I can't directly comment on endgame.
There're also the people who, whether through self-delusion or laziness, have found a provably "false" way---often, one just as difficult to accomplish as the "true" one, but in any case making some distinctly and obviously poor choices out of ego, mistaken assumptions, or personal style. You've touched on these in your post; they tend to break down in all but extremely rare situations.
Then there's an optimal middle path---the versatility to do things that are uncommonly needed, without sacrificing the ability to function in a somewhat-optimal party. Some of my best XP/hour has come from mage-stacked groups in which the RDM was able to pull out armor and a shield and act as first voke for SATA, or a pair of ninja shared tanking duties and I as PLD was asked to pull out my greatsword and start chewing meat 'kabobs since there were no DDs seeking, or hunting worms in Koroloka with a MNK tanking standing far away and spamming Boost while everyone else, playing either PLD, RDM, or WAR/WHM, meleed and rotated cures so none of us took hate from the MNK.
Is a RDM usually a good first voke? Not really, but when it's the difference between SATA and no SATA, it's worth it.
Is a PLD the best at hurting things? No, but with proper skills, ability use, and equipment, he can certainly have a decent effect.
Is WAR/WHM ever acceptible in a party? When it lets you keep the worm hate on the guy 40 feet away loaded down with +Earth gear, huge HP, and constant Barstone, it's hard to argue against.
Sadly, a playstyle that values versatility seems to be limited to those sated with enough in-game rewards to keep them from craving the absolute fastest advancement possible, yet who aren't completely dedicated to the kind of endgame content where perfect execution -is- everything. While a lot's been made of the difference between NA and Japanese playstyle in the past, I think in the end a fair amount of the "Japanese difference" is the ability to relax and enjoy the game, as I've felt it in a number of LS statics too, even those that I wasn't typically a part of but only a one-session replacement for catching up to someone who'd inadvertently outleveled the others.
It's unfortunate that most of the NA player base hasn't yet reached a point where they don't -need- to progress with utmost speed to feel satisfied; however, judging from the history of the game, that day will come soon; just as it has for many of the Japanese who aren't completely caught up in endgame events and/or drama.