Played FFXI on release and continued for 2 years. Since I had a job and school i couldn't really dedicate the consecutive hours the game demanded for real progression. Finally got frustrated with all the mechanics that were holding me back and I quit. Picked up wow and played that for .. many years and then swapped to FFXIV when it came out. WoW was very entertaining but when all my friends ditched it slightly after Cataclysm I lost most of my reasons to play.

Things that I hated about FFXI: XP loss on death. no progression without parties. Monotonous leveling grind. NMs for rare drops were an insane campfest and not guaranteed even if you tagged it and beat it.

Things I liked: Rich story, varied classes(one character for all jobs) and expansive maps.