Too many counterpoints about PvP = WoW. :P Yes pvp is a big part of wow but have you played wow do you know the history of the game. It's a completely different animal. Mainly WoW is very solo oriented and has always been "Red vs Blue" by which I mean you have a light side and a dark side. Both sides are constantly at war so PvP is a very big part of their game but PvP is not defined by WoW's definition of PvP.

FFXI has a very different aspect of PvP. In final fantasy it's not you're my enemy you're not the same alliegence as me let's kill one another. It's more of a "Let's see what we can do against one another's setup" it's competitive play it's not bloodlust. By which I mean, I can go with my linkshell and say let's duke it out and test out our jobs vs one another while still being friendly. Going for drinks afterwards and what not. Final Fantasy XI has always been very community oriented and I highly doubt improving PvP would make it magically turn into WoW where you need very little strategy and can lone wolf most things. Long story short if they did take the time to impliment this and you don't like PvP then don't do it, it's not like anyone would twist your arm. It's not like it would even affect you if you're not into PvP to begin with you could just look away :P

Personally I would like to see the battle arena opened and not just made it into PvP I would love to be pitted against PvE with a few friends fighting along side of me with random monsters as the rounds progressed. The option of bigger PvP battles is intriquing but you would need more incentive than what's already in place, it'll have to be something completely different than what we have now.