when 1.0 first started it was virtually unplayable. The combat system was boring, there was virtually nothing on the map, and had very little to do. There was a major storyline but what do you do after that? Plus leveling classes were very unreasonable, and we had 'physical level' on top of class level. Let's not even go there with the retainers. This was the Tanaka era, which thankfully didn't last long.
When Yoshida took the reigns, things started to change for the better. It started with the beastmen stronghold, and then Ifrit (easy and hard mode). Eventually materias came on. Retainers were tolerable. Physical levels were abolished, class leveling mattered a great deal more. A new storyline was introduced that eventually lead to the beginning of the 7th Umbral Era, where Von Insano (aka Nael Von Darnus) became the primary antagonist. We also saw two new dungeons (Cutter's Cry and Aurum Vale), as well as the Hamlet Defense. Of course let's not forget Garuda (and we could've probably gotten Titan too in 1.0 if the big earthquake didn't happen in March 2011) This is what Yoshida's Era brought us.
It was quite amazing how much Yoshida's team tried to keep FFXIV going despite several nagging limitation, which required the game to be completely rebuilt.
