In an article from back when 2.0 was released, Yoshi said himself about it being a bit of a tribute, so it did play some part in Yoshi's planning. Not a full blown tribute, mind you, but he definitely got some ideas. WoW also borrowed from other MMOs, but such things got more exposure or were perfected just by being in that game. XI definitely inspired XIV a good bit, that much is plain to see, and I think that was probably the best part. I played XI and enjoyed it to death. And yes, XIV is definitely running on its own success now, with a more caring dev team to boot. XIV is superior now in some areas, while WoW has its things. They could learn from each other, really. I view XIV highly, and definitely play it more than WoW anymore (though I enjoy both games still)...No doubt it's a superior game on way more fronts, but people tend to forget the origins of this game and decide to trash it instead. Or they know and just trash it anyway.
