Arabian_Wolf: OUt of a mainstream perspective and a business the concern is getting as much money as possible and make something successful. SE is still a stock company so they have a board and investors etc that also have a final saying in things. You saw the event from 2 days ago. Yoshi P and his gang are working their asses off for everyone. The question then comes down to who is everyone? Its the current majority who maybe? can't handle the overwhelming gameplay of 1.23 or something that FFXI had to offer? That can be a case but also it can be reversed into not underestimating the new market either.
You can be an MMORPG that follows trend and lend elements from everything thats already been there because a market says so out of business perspective or shape the market like Blizzard shaped the path of MMORPG during their prime time and introduce something new. Final Fantasy is a solid namebrand by itself so it can catch someones interest from the start and shape it into something unique. Its ofcourse kinda too late to change course now. SE has two MMORPGs up right now so who knows maybe they can have a new MMORPG aswell thats also a Final Fantasy MMORPG that goes horizontal who knows