Players of all job types will be able to take advantage of one of the new features introduced in the expansion -- Chocobo breeding. You'll be able to head to the Chocobo stables and raise your own tailored Chocobo, in a diversion that shouldn't take much more time out of your day than gardening at the Mog house. Once your Chocobo is fully grown, you'll be able to enter your feathered friend into races at the Chocobo Circuit, where presumably you'll be able to race for prizes. While the different types of Chocobos you'll be able to raise weren't made explicit, it was confirmed that there will be more colors than just the plain yellow that has already been introduced in the game.
Some of the changes added to the game don't seem incredibly major but are worth noting. One example is the addition of a Mog locker, which will give players access to extra storage space for their items, approximately 30-50 slots in total. There will be a fee associated with use of the locker, but if the fee is unpaid, the items won't disappear, they'll just be kept safely until the bills are all paid up. There will also be the addition of a Colosseum, where monsters will engage in combat against other monsters. While players won't be able to directly control the creatures, they will be involved in some way, perhaps by wagering on the outcomes of the battles?
The three new job classes will probably end up being the most profound change to the gameplay in Final Fantasy XI, and this expansion may just be what will bring back some of the players who left for greener pastures. We'll be sure to bring you more details as soon as we get hands-on time with the expansion as it approaches release this April.
