FFXI had flaws but the time sink debate is really a meh point for me. Yeah it took longer to travel or level up...but with FFXIV I'm spending the same amount of time in this game doing more things, but those things feel far more empty doing. Yeah I leveled up quickly, but I'm farming tomes for the same soon to be no longer relevant gear in a soon to be no longer relevant instance/raid. Say what you will about FFXI, but it's content (gear/locations/quests/ect) held for long periods of time. Several, several years into the game you could still easily grab 18 people and do a level 20 quest to kill a giant slug.

I would rather spend more time leveling my character and exploring a dangerous world then spamming instances for a pony or glamor. Don't get me wrong, these things are nice additions...but I feel like theres not much left. If anything the grinding in FFXIV seems much worse in its own way then FFXI ever felt.