Hiromichi Tanaka, FINAL FANTASY XI Producer, appeared revealed to the packed ballroom crowd when the curtain that draped the stage dropped to reveal him standing in a pillar of light. Attendees went wild as Tanaka-san welcomed them all to Fan Festival 2007 and teased of the events to come. Matt Hilton, from the Community Relations team, joined Tanaka-san on stage as they discussed just what was in store for Fan Festival attendees. The crowd was thrilled to hear they were the first players in the entire world to experience Wings of the Goddess hands-on.

Tanaka-san had one more surprise up his sleeve before the closing of the opening ceremony. The FINAL FANTASY XI official site was displayed on the screen, when a message came inviting the player to play the game. The player responded that they were already in Vana'diel and slowly expanded the game from its hidden spot about the Live Vana'diel thumbnail to reveal the FINAL FANTASY XI windowed mode!

Immediately following the Opening Ceremony was the first presentation of the day. Vana'diel planner, Kenichi Iwao had a lot of stories to tell about the history of Vana'diel in his segment. Iwao-san took the stage wearing a traditional Samurai helmet that he brought from his collection of goods that litter his desk back in Tokyo. The crowd was hanging on his every word as he detailed a few of the important movements that occurred during Vana'diel's tumultuous history. Iwao-san also included the histories of how the various races of Vana'diel began their rise, and often fall, in the pages of history.

Father of the scholar and dancer jobs, Mitsutoshi Gondai, took the stage to give an overview of what player's can expect with the new jobs. He showed off the various new abilities of the dancer, including the different levels of dances and explained how they are considered a front-line healer that focuses on TP, rather than MP. The audience was really shocked when the Scholar showed off the ability to turn an enfeebling spells into a -ga spell. The scholar gathered a group of beetles and using the "Manifestation" ability turned her normal gravity spell into an area of effect spell to affect all of the enemies! The crowd was really excited by the demonstration and was immediately let loose to try the new jobs themselves at the Wings of the Goddess station!

Battle Director, Akihiko Matsui, and Planner, Mitsutoshi Gondai, took the stage to discuss a few adjustments that will be affecting the jobs of Vana'diel. The two discussed how difficult it is to try and balance jobs that players have been playing for so long. They outlined some of the changes that are being discussed for the future, some that are definite, and some adjustments that may never happen. Player's are already enjoying the new abilities and spells that were first revealed at the show like Repose for white mage, Velocity Shot for ranger, Accomplice for thief, and Snarl for beastmaster.

The pair teased about possibly adding a ninjutsu that grants "Sneak" for ninjas, giving red mages something that moves them to the front lines of battle, adding more support functions to the dragoon's wyvern, and more. The crowd was excited about what they heard and are eagerly awaiting seeing more positive adjustments in the future.

Friday night's developers panel focused extensively on the new systems and ideas that are being introduced with Wings of the Goddess. Koichi Ogawa, director of Wings of the Goddess, discussed the new system and touched on how adventurers will constantly have things to do in the past! Campaign Battles, Campaign Ops, Headhunting and Assessments are all apart of the new Conquest-like system used in Wings of the Goddess, called the Allied Campaign.

Sage Sundi, Global Online Producer, talked about how originally the team didn't want to be involved with constant seasonal events in Vana'diel. Sundi fought hard to get the idea approved so that on specific days throughout the year, adventurers could enjoy some time away from the hustle and bustle of battle to enjoy making new friends and trying new things. It was also revealed that in order to help support player-created events, the GMs will soon have the ability to place objects throughout the world of Vana'diel to liven up the events players create. Some examples include, assisting with chocobo races by placing goal points, creating special bazaar signs and notices for players, creating spots for treasure hunting activities and more!

Players wrote down their questions for the development team and placed them in a special container so that they could be answered at each developers panel.

Question:
How does Treasure Hunter affect drops in Battlefields, Dynamis/Limbus, and even when opening chests?

Answer:
Treasure Hunter has no effect on chest contents. As for Dynamis and Limbus, Treasure Hunter is active just as anywhere else in Vana'diel. For it to be active, the thief must have performed some type of action against the target, and it need not be the final blow.

Question:
Are there any plans on adding new avatars?

Answer:
Yes, there are plans to introduce new avatars. But we can't say more beyond that!

Question:
What's the relationship between magic accuracy and magic skill?

Answer:
Your magic skill has a direct effect on how accurate your magic will be against enemies. Also, stats play an important part in the accuracy of magic spells (like MND, INT, etc.)

Question:
Characters walk too slow! Can you do something to help us out?

Answer:
Yes! In the past, players will be able to obtain new shoes that come with charges for increased movement speed. And in fact, if players use the charge on the shoes and remove them, the effect will stay active. Then you can switch to other movement speed+ equipment (Ninja Kyahan, Strider Boots, etc.) for even greater effect.

Question:
Can we have a cheese sandwich recipe?

Answer:
Sure! It will be added in the next version update, we guarantee!

Sage Sundi talked about the work that the Special Task Force has been doing since it began a year ago. He discussed the hard work that started and continues to this day, but spoke about how the team is getting more familiar with identifying and fixing problems that they encounter. The Special Task Force worked very closely with the development team to obtain the required logs and data to ensure that no mistakes were made and players were not wrongfully impacted. The Force would look through over 1 gigabyte of chat logs and hundreds of GM reports throughout their investigations. Throughout the year of service, the Special Task Force has frozen over 1.1 billion gil that if it was sold would total over three million dollars! (Read more about the Special Task Force report here.)

The development team also discussed the plans that are on the table for upcoming version updates. There will be new races added to the Chocobo Circuit, as well as an adjustment in fees and participation penalties. The ability to view a chocobo's stats will make betting a lot more interesting, and prizes that are awarded will become much more substantial! There are also plans to add in chocobo race trophies that can be placed inside your mog house.

New sign boards will be added for each of the different crafts in Vana'diel. These will be a great way to show off your various synthesized goods when you invite potential customers into your Mog House! Not only will they boost your skill, but they will lower the risks of item losses when synthesizing.

The development team also teased about a feature they hope will make its way into the world of Vana'diel: Private Dungeons. They hope to be able to allow players to create and share their own user-created dungeons with friends and linkshell members. Private Dungeons are a way off, and may not be possible to even incorporate into FINAL FANTASY XI, but everyone is keeping their fingers crossed!

Absolute Virtue made up a huge amount of the questions that the development team received during the show. Unfortunately, the team could not complete the video that they had been promising that would contain hints for players to be able to defeat Absolute Virtue. The demands of Wings of the Goddess were just too high and rather than delaying the game, they chose to stay focused on making sure the expansion was completed. The team promises to begin work on the video that will contain brand new hints as soon as the dust settles after the Wings of the Goddess launches. The team also reiterated the fact that he is not impossible to beat, he will not be weakened or changed in any way, and even with new hints he will still be one of the most difficult fights in the game.

Question:
When fighting with signet active, do crystals take the place of items?

Answer:
Each monster has a total of 10 items that can drop from them. First, item drops are determined and then crystals. So you will never have a case of crystals taking the spot of an item with Signet active.

Question:
Why do BST pets not lose TP while resting, but Automatons and Wyverns do?

Answer:
This should not be the case. We'll go back and double check and if it is happening, we will fix it right away!

Question:
Can you make it so when you view a scroll of a spell it lists what the spell actually does instead of just the level and job required to learn it?

Answer:
That's a really good idea! But it will take awhile to implement, so please give us some time!

Question:
Are there any special conditions for spawning the Almighty Apkallu?

Answer:
We've received this question a lot over the past few days. We'll return to work and see what we can discover and report it to the Premier Sites! Answer posted on Allakhazam/Warcry/and IGN Vault Premier Sites on 11/28!

Question:
Can you make it so /dance actually has a motion instead of just text?

Answer:
It's possible, is that something you would all like to see? *Crowd goes wild!*

Question:
Do the "luck" items like the four-leaf mandragora bud, millionaire's desk, etc. actually have anything special about them?

Answer:
There are no hidden effects programmed into these items. However, there is no way to program "luck" in real life, either.

Question:
Can you tell us what the use of Nyzul Weapons will be?

Answer:
While it's still a little ways off, we'll go ahead and tell you that these are part of the ingredients in making new relic-type weapons with brand new weapon skills!

Question:
Why is there no Tarutaru Serpent General?

Answer:
We're sure you're all familiar with the Warp Tarutaru in Al Zahbi, right? Well, we'll let you in on a little secret about his past. He was tasked with the important mission of warping the 5 Serpent Generals back home after a dangerous battle, and if he succeeded he would be given the rank of Serpent General. While waiting outside for them to finish their task, he got really, really hungry. And when it came time to warp them to safety, he sent them back into the Jade Sepulcher battleground… Thus, there is no 6th Serpent General.