Quote Originally Posted by Mirage View Post
It always was, due to the higher player skill cap in that game relative to FF11. With significantly lower network latencies and more responsive servers, fights could rely a lot more on precise timing and battlefield positioning than it would be realisitc to rely on in FF11. Most of FF11-hard is just pure time consumption and lack of the right gear, not real difficulty.
I don't even necessarily mean more hardcore in terms of player input/reflexes/traditional difficulty (about which you're absolutely right). I mean WoW, at Cataclysm launch, expected more of a time and will investment of players, both as individuals and as groups, than FFXI did at the same time (which was right around Heroes of Abyssea release). It was both more difficult and more "hardcore" (as distinct from difficult) than FFXI.

But that's neither here nor there because regardless of how FFXI proceeds, we're unlikely to see that level of demand from WoW ever again.