I don't think so, at least they probably didn't know that they liked it until they played it themselves. The MMO market in Japan is incredibly small. If a Japanese XIV player didn't come from XI there's a high probability this is their first MMO period.
2.0 turned out the way it did because of Yoshida's experience with Western MMOs and his overall love for the genre. He's also an admitted Blizzard fanboy of sorts and has a very good understanding of WoW and it's mechanics, which is ultimately the main reason the game is the way it is from a design perspective. It was built for a worldwide audience first and foremost and Yoshida was the person at Square Enix that had the best idea of what that worldwide audience wanted.
