I logged in tonight for the first time in weeks, and so did dozens of friends because of the welcome back campaign.
Instead of being met with new content we didnt meet requirements for, we were all very, VERY pleasantly surprised at how much new content we COULD participate in, and how much more of a pleasant experience it was to travel around vana'diel.
I had fun explaining to some xi friends what the spriggans are like in 14. We all started unlocking trust spells, and trying out the new eminence system and felt right back at home with a lot of new things to do.
The general concencus: A+ tremendous work dev team. Vana'diel has never been a friendlier place, and content is fun again, and much more intuitive to access. Really really refreshing to see.