All I expected was an entirely different way to level up my armor. Perhaps killing monsters of a certain element charged aspects that fueled different stats. Kill fire monsters for ATK and so forth. I'd have different goals as I went but it sounded like we were going to have more power over the customization of what we were wearing.
It was hard to think that they were going to give us anything other than a revolutionary system with how tight lipped and mysterious they were about it. Sure some people got a little overhyped, but that's kind of understandable. What I don't think anyone expected was for them to outright make it so... hostile.
FFXIV has always been forgiving since 2.0 at least. You learn by trial and error, you talk to people. Now? Better have a res with you or hope someone is nice enough to res your white magic user, or 25% down the toilet, possible delevel.

I expected more involvement in the build, not more time investment than ever before.