From someone that liked the pros and toughed out the cons, I really wanted to comment on this thread and hope the OP says something to these comments, along with others agreeing with the idea Eureka is like FFXI.
So your saying Eureka goes against FFXIV's Etos? It is too much time for gaining nothing outside glam. At the week of release is the same week causal play get access to an i360 weapon for one class. That is 10 mins of work over the course of 7 weeks. Smashing one button hours on end is not even what FFXI was about. You got to talk, plan, and engage different feeling content. Like others stated, FFXI endgame did not require a lot of time in one sitting outside old Dynamis. Then when people post like 77 crystal drops for the course of 6 hours guess what? that even beats old Dynamis and old Dynamis was 2-4 hours every THREE DAYS to simply get a drop for your gear.
The only thing this grind can compare to in FFXI is the trials of the magians and even then, it depends on what one you are comparing it to. Outside the trials of the magians NOTHING is this big of a grind in ffxi, not even old exp rates to get your first job to 75. If we go there, getting your first job to 75 was explore experience as well, you explored a huge world, fought a verity of different things, even if crabs was a common pick, you still had to know how to deal with undead spawns, move camps at night, magic aggro, know how to run to a good exp camp, make sure people had spells on some things like dispel or erase. Be on your toes with CC like sleep, no one does that in FFXIV, in ffxiv all you are doing is remaking the abyessa experience and I guarantee you, those that ask for ffxiv concepts was not asking for abyseaa leveling.
FFXIV is handholding. You are handheld to a single spot and told kill things for 24+ hours in mindless aoe ability spam. You misused what handholding means. The time frame is a BIG issue in this game because in 3 months you go though a tier or 2 in ilevels, and the thing is, the final forms at the moment are already outdated in comparasion of current gear, that is easy to get. Penta meld crafted or current tomes put way less work and time invesment, even when you consider doing the treadmill again vs grind of these stages +future upgrades.
With that out of the way...
Eureka gives concepts on long grinds, like pre-Treasures of Aht Urhgan exp rates. We are comparing a game that was built having you to be sociable, and explore different sites for experience points to a game that wants to be built on hand me everything. NOTHING about Eureka is like FFXI except the concepts that went into pre-Treasures of Aht Urhgan exp rates and some trials of the magians. All Eureka gave us is FFXI's abyseaa leveling. Not even the other concepts of abyseaa is like this diadem 3.0 situation.
But the thing is, we are trying to compare side ENDGAME content to old MMORPG exp styles. All the endgame I know does not come CLOSE to being Eureka, at least not in ffxi, there was a ton of different content to do, not spend time waiting for something to be given to you.