Final Fantasy XIV will ship with a system that will see avid players earning less experience the more they play.
The system is based around a weekly timer. Up to the eight hour point, players will receive full experience for kills and quests, beyond that the rewards will gradually decrease until, after a further seven hours, players stop levelling completely. The limits are separate for each skill--equipping a different weapon levels a different skill in FFXIV--so it's not quite as dire as it sounds (although the experience cap isn't affected by changing weapons). If players hit the 15-hour cap leveling their sword skill, they can swap to a ranged weapon or crafting tool and level that for another 15 hours. With 18 skills total, you'd have to play for 270 hours in a week (a.k.a. impossible) before you hit an actual hard cap on your ability to progress your skills.
Responding to angry fans, game director Nobuaki Komoto said, "the main concept behind FFXIV is allowing those players with little time on their hands to play effectively, and game balance is based off of that. Furthermore, it is being designed to not give those with more time on their hands to play an unfair advantage."
Final Fantasy XIV is also launching its open beta in early September ahead of its release on September 30th, though a special collector's edition will hit the shelves a week earlier that will grant purchasers a head start, as well as a few other goodies .
