What were your original expectations for this game, and how have they changed?

The game has changed A LOT since release. So i'm wondering how you thought the game would progress when you first bought it (probably a good idea to mention when you got it), and if the game has strayed far from that or not.

Personally I had really high hopes for this game when i got the CE @ release (and in beta). Originally I liked the idea of being able to be a DoH or DoL main. I thought the market wards (once improved upon) would create an interesting economy.
Group crafting sounded like it would be epic.
I loved the huge-alliance party system because it made it a lot easier to get parties than in ffxi.
I had expected that retainers could be leveled up, and that custom gear or aura's or some kind of way to make your's unique would be implemented.
I had expected ishgard to open up within a few months with a dragon storyline.
I had thought there would be a lot more zones coming in.
And I had thought level cap would be raised within half a year so that you could experience about 70% of the world that has rank 80+ mobs right now.
All this would have made the game somewhat unique.
However, the game turned into somewhat of an ffxi clone. There is still nothing really unique. Raids are awesome, but they don't really compare to other games that are coming out. And i'm really dissapointed that crafting and DoH has been put on the side.
I'm also -really- disappointed in the lack of a story. This is final fantasy. It should not be a grindquest but should be story heavy and have lots of lore.
I'm hoping once they fix the battle system they do something to make this game compete with others out there.