Yes exactly, Tessendorf’s technique is what WaveWorks uses, combination of Gerstner waves and FFT. It is a stretch goal, but one I plan to figure out and implement some time in the future.
But to be clear, absolutely no time-frame, no guarantee, might not happen, we’ll have to see, etc. 
Here is the Tessendorf paper outlining how it works: http://graphics.ucsd.edu/courses/rendering/2005/jdewall/tessendorf.pdf
AC: Black Flag (and AC 3) used the same technique as well with some stunning results, using it as a reference for techniques as well: Assassin’s Creed III: The tech behind (or beneath) the action – fxguide
Adding in a height field with noise is a simple solution for now, it adds a lot of choppiness to the waves. The waves shown on the twitch stream today are very close to the ones shown in the GDC 2014 demo available for download in the Learn tab of the launcher. I have been taking pieces of it apart and adding them to the material with some success, I just didn’t include it in the dl from the other day since it is still WIP. It does add a lot of dimension to the waves, and will be included at some point.
Yeah I noticed that as well, planning to go through it all later today or tomorrow. The one (only) image I’ve seen so far is promising, it looks much better than it currently does. Here is the image:
https://.unrealengine.com/showthread.php?32543-What-Are-You-Working-On-Community-Screenshots-amp-Videos&p=207538&viewfull=1#post207538