XIV 1.0 failed because 5 main reasons:

1) almost no content. Only content at launch was leves and they were limited. It took them over a year to get up to the content level they should of been at launch... and it was still bare minimum.
2) Stupid restrictions. Fatigue and surplus to prevent people from playing, rng based xp gains.
3) Horrible engine for a mmo, character and mob detail where best in the genre... but the world suffered immensely.
4) Completely unbalanced jobs and skills. Thm could tank things 30-40lvls higher then it and was the best dmg negation job in the game at launch it was also the top healer and dps.
5) No direction at all.


Tanaka's main mistake was not looking at the genre combined with doing the opposite of what he did in XI. So he ended up with something everyone universally hated. The old school, the dedicated XI fans, and the new school.

XIV 1.X at the end of the game was on a much better path then 2.0 is on in my opinion. IF they took that and made major revisions to the graphics engine and quest system I feel that game would be vastly superior to the current.

A pure XI clone in todays era will not work due to the fact 90% of the mmo player base are non mmo players. But a pure WoW clone, which is 100% what XIV is atm, is equally as bad. Honestly it sickens me to admit but WoW as a more in dept guild based game then XIV is.

An XI/EQ clone has longevity but no draw to the majority population. A WoW clone is a big draw with no staying power longterm. Pick your poison I guess. Would you want a game with 200k people that last 10yrs or a game with 1million ppl that last 2 yrs.

Honestly I would be happy if they would bring back the following from 1.0:
1) Difficult open world mobs (not the lvl 90 ones which where stupid, but like the difficult of a mob in Natalan or Za'rak sp? were in 1.0) - Either that or mark the mobs as they should be Capped at lvl 30 outside dungeons. Nothing in XIV can kill you at 50 unless you are in an instance.
2) Bring back group based open world leveling (without the pwrlvl exploit they left go unchecked)
3) Scrap 100% of the 2.0 gear system and revert back to 1.0 with unique stats and more horizontal structure. Over Balancing has made XIV's gear system the most bland in the genre.
4) Bring back open world fights which drop decent gear. Chest from bstmen areas, garlian bases.
5) they need to bring back the regiment system but greatly improved as well. The limit system is a laughable joke.