La Taberna de Eorzea - Rest In Pepperoni

Gamer.nl: There were three new Jobs added in Heavensward last year - quite a bit for an mmo expansion. In hindsight, how was it to balance these compared to other classes?

Naoki Yoshida: There's 2 important elements in balancing Jobs in FFXIV. First we look at classes with the same role. Dark Knight for example is designed to be at odds with Paladin and Warrior. We also balance the Jobs so that they can be used in [all] content. We want to prevent situations wherein a certain job isn't useful [lit. "required"] to achieve high-end goals. [Raids]
We think the current balance in patch 3.2, where we're at currently, is almost ideal. It was quite difficult to adjust Astrologian but we think this Job is at the same level as other healers by now. Balancing is a never-ending goal though, so we'll keep fine-tuning things.

Gamer.nl: Are there Job that are currently too strong or too weak?

We think that we got everything stabilised since 3.2 released last month. We're keeping an eye on Paladin and Astrologian, because we got feedback from players about these jobs. We look at how many players use these classes [Jobs] in end-game content and keep listening to what players think, to determine whether or not they need further adjustments. With the release of new PvP-content in patch 3.21 we're also strongly watching Job balance for PvP-players.

Gamer.nl: In the past there was often talk about the addition of an API for add-ons, so players can add extra's to the interface. How's that going?

This is postponed because there's big concerns over DPS-meters. If we would add this system in it's current form, I'm concerned players would argue about having or not having such a dps meter. That's why we still have to decide if the use of such a DPS meter will be made available. Currently we're discussing about add-ons which you can use to make design changes in the interface, to have skins for example.
A half year after A Realm Reborn released, we considered implementing addons. We thought about enabling addons in the pc-version, annd later release these features for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4. We realised however that this is difficult on consoles, because there's not enough storage space on these systems.
Our biggest concern is making a notable difference between the pc-version of the game, and the game on other platforms through enabling addons. This is why we postponed this feature. It should be noted that doesn't mean we cancelled our plans for addons, but we want to first focus on official features for the game.

Gamer.nl: As there is no API yet: what do you think of the add-ons players make themselves, like the unofficial API?

Final Fantasy 14 is also available on the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3, on which these unofficial add-ons are not available. Because of this, we don't want to proactively support these alternatives as the FF14 team. As pc-gamer I'm personally not against the use of player-made addons. I do think these addons should only be used for personal enjoyment however. Sorry, I unfortunately can't say more than that, I hope you understand.