Simplicity over complexity, time to change.

[Gilthas]

No it wouldn't, WoW is not an 'evolution' of FFXI it is a completely different path entirely. An EVOLUTION of FFXI's mechanics would be finding a way to keep the MMO an online world but remove some of the problems, WoW instead chooses not to be an online world entirely but more of an online meta-game about rolling through gear progression with friends.

Just because you don't like something doesn't mean that you can label it as something else and pretend it's not an evolution of the genre.

EDIT: And to make my point clear, yes, FFXI did use a lot of outdated systems because the ye ol' MMO's were based on making you waste as much time as possible in order to get stuff done so content would last longer and you'd keep on paying monthly fees. Hence why teleports were so limited, gear had severe lockouts that puts FFXIV to shame, why the vast majority of content required groups, etc, etc.