Pretty much all those changes happened by 2.1, cept cds which was 3.4. Folks just didn't use Hallowed every pull because generally the fights weren't tuned such that you needed perfect defensive cooldowns (they still aren't, but we're just given so many so fuck it).

Original inventory was 100 vice 140 slots, saddlebag didn't exist, but retainers were still the same, and there were fewer jobs and almost no need for materia (also it was much less prevalent) until 3.2. All that stuff balances out.

Dunno about houses cuz who cares, though this was also a time when personal houses weren't allowed (FC only; they were opened to players themselves sometime in HW.)

The QooL that this game has received over the years is not as substantial as some other games (namely WoW) because it really hasn't needed that. But more to the point, the QooL hasn't significantly CHANGED FFXIV like it changed WoW.

FFXIV has always had PF, always had DF, always had minimal time penalty on death or wipe (and like-infinite rezzes mid combat). It's designed with all these things in mind from the ground up as of 2.0.

The changes people focus on are the actual job and battle system changes that simply removed complexity or certain playstyles while offering little else in its place. Focusing on the QooL changes is kind of missing the forest for what people actually miss about that era.

I have more fun doing the Unreals than modern extremes because they're more fun to play; I have more fun doing old savages MiNE than much of Pandemonium, despite MiNE being very poorly tuned in terms of what damage a good team is able to dish out, because the fight designs then had more than just visual variety. That's, at least, what I'm saying. If I could pay at the Mogstation to play old versions of SCH, SMN, DRK, MCH or AST I probably would, because that's what I miss. Not the game as a whole, because it hasn't changed all that much.

I've listed what I see as irrevocable decisions in a previous post.