Like every MMORPG at the time, it tried to copy the top MMORPG. But there were certain things done differently, in part because of Yoshi-P's experiences with playing MMORPGs, in part because of it being a Final Fantasy game and wanting to make it story-driven, in part because of needing it to work on PS3 and learn from 1.0s lack of loading screens, and in part because of the hardware or engine or their ability to make it work quite the same.

And it just diverged after that and wasn't afraid to learn from its own mistakes and improve them in a way that was uniquely logical for FFXIV rather than copying every WoW patch. Although I do think comparisons could be drawn between Eureka/Bozja's Logos/Lost Actions and what WoW was doing with attacks that were unique to a given expansion, so they may have taken some inspiration still.