I played on Asura 2003-4ish til around 2012. I likely would have stayed there but Abyssea not only killed the game, it also killed my nearly decade old linkshell and I was the only one who wanted to even give xiv a shot.

Tried to go back but between trusts and the deconstruction of most endgame its lost any good flavor it had. The emphasis on the community, the risk vs reward, the strategic play, etc. all of that is gone and that's what made ffxi so good. I know it has never existed in xiv, which is why its more tolerable here, although I would love to see XIV take more of the good cards from the XI deck instead of vice versa