XI is just better. The story is more compelling the environments have more variety and the battle system has more depth and the quests are well made with cutscenes.

Is it really any wonder that people want those elements in XIV? I haven't heard of a MMO which has as good storytelling as XI so to me that seems like a fair comparison.

Whenever I tell my friends who play wow and TAoC they just tell me "but MMOs don't HAVE story!"

I pity them =D