Make FFXIV more like FFXI and less like WoW

[Sixmp]

I was FFXIV playing yesterday and i spent some time roaming the land and as i travelled it occurred to me that while what i saw looked nice etc there was just something not quite right.
I stood and fished for a while trying to put my finger on it. Then it came to me. Things i see in the distance. Most of those things i cannot get to. Places close by i cannot get to, it made me realise i was not running around a living world.

I was running around a film set. I almost expected to be able to look behind a bush and find something holding it up. I continued looking about, i came across a cave. A large mouth which i could not enter.
The game world is basically a film set to me now and i cannot shake that feeling off. I almost expect to walk through doors and find normal city streets and views behind them.

The game lacks life, yes i know there are plenty of places with doors that you cannot enter and dead end caves etc in other games but in FFXIV it just feels more obvious.
Which is why i feel we need more over world things to do. Cave systems to explore etc.

I know people hate hearing about older games being drawn on for inspiration like FFXI, the reason people do it is because they experienced something they enjoyed. It may not have been the WHOLE thing but just the concept.
Like a ice cream milkshake just because one place does a bad tasting one shouldn't mean we should all stop drinking them. The concepts are there to be improved on.

There was one thing in FFXI i liked that would work well in FFXIV, i cannot remember the name. You would help NPC's defend a building from a large scale attack, a little bit like a fate, only it was challenging and you got rewarded points to spend.