Well, thus far Elemental hasn't been quite sure of itself, and liked to make promises.
Perhaps elemental will now take some direction with a dedicated Design Production manager?
I do not exactly have "faith" in any unproven projects ... at this point in time ... however Kael has done good things for 4X. Therefore it would be interesting, for me as a potential consumer/modder, to see how Kael does in his new environment.
Assuredly, the 1.1 version of Elemental has seen a lot of man-hours invested into it (even if none were coding) before Kael stepped in ... yet it seems that Kael may be judged on the success or failure of 1.1 . It is almost like a new President coming into office.
However ... this time, the new President is stepping in during the transition from loose confederacy ... to perhaps something more like a republic. So no the new president (kael) didn't enact the change in format, but he has been appointed by the previous leader (frogboy) to rule this new government.
Personally, I'm looking forward to two things, and I am under no illusion that they will be one and the same. First, in the short-term I am looking forward to 1.1. Hopefully 1.1 will be a step in the right direction ... at least in the realm of combat. Second, in the short-term I am looking forward to hearing about Kael's career, and his impact on Elemental. Hopefully he will continue to go by his tried and true game design and production philosophy, which led to a very successful 0.41 version of FFH2.