FFXIV Gil has been in development alongside the constant growth and expansion of FFXI, and customer feedback from Square Enix’s current MMO is serving as a guide for its successor. Square didn’t divulge much information about the changes in play, but director Nobuaki Komoto emphasized that the growth and development of a player’s character will be important to the experience.

Expect changes to the ways characters advance, and a new take on the Jobs system — FF XI’s take on traditional role-playing game classes. There’s no word on the combat system, however — will it be turn-based? Or action-oriented, like World of Warcraft? We’ll have to wait and see.

With FFXIV Gil’s launch about a year away, fans of Square’s currently running MMO have no need to worry that their game will be shut down in favor of the new one. We were told that there are no plans to quit development on FFXI, which has over a year’s worth of content waiting in the wings. And while Square Enix plans to support both MMO communities, it’s making the transition to FFXIV easy for fans: Many of the races and character designs will be similar to those available in FFXI, so if you’re attached to a particular avatar, there’s a good chance you’ll be able to re-create its likeness.

FFXIV Gil has been in development for five years, and there’s still a year’s worth of development to go. For now, with little information beyond a title, a trailer and a general release window, we’ll just have to wait and see what Square Enix has in store.