Playing an expansion as current content has been a lacklustre MMO experience

[DPZ2]

Actually current FFXIV isn't at all like ARR.

The game has certainly added much since 2.0 launched, but to say that current content is totally different from ARR is a bit misleading.

The ARR zones haven't moved. The dungeons have been twiddled a little bit, but I can assure you that Aurum Vale is still as deadly to a party that tries to take everything down at once. The MSQ has been shortened a bit, but you still have to run through the same tragic ending of ARR via cutscenes. True, the "pick a direction" dungeon that was Toto-Rak doesn't exist anymore, but it became pretty clear from the numerous runs I've made of that instance over the years that there was only One True(tm) Pathway for moving through that instance. The new, worked instance is much cleaner and understandable.

Dungeon design is still mob-mob-mob-boss1-mob-mob-mob-boss2-mob-mob-mob-boss3-and-out. The Dance of Trials is still required. And 24-person raids are still pretty much story-led instances for those who have no desire to participate in Savage (and, sometimes, Normal) 8-person raids.

I haven't seen the use of "The Great Labyrinth of Bahamut: Encounter" (LOB) in English in the eight years I've been playing. "Binding Coils of Bahamut" (CoB) has been traditional since at least 2014. I read that its first iteration required a premade party where the party leader could not have completed the Turn. Thankfully, that was replaced by a Duty Finder entry. For those who don't know, there were exactly zero additional 8-person raids in ARR. It was considerably more difficult than the current normal mode 8-person raids. It is also somewhat less difficult than most of the current savage mode 8-person raids. The cut-scenes are available on Youtube, but if you want to actually experience that era's idea of what a raid could become, go look for it in Party Finder (or bring your FC for a romp). Don't know anything about raids? I found a nice sensible guide a while back.