I myself went back to FFXI with my gf and a few friends for something to do, but its nothing special really, nothing like it used to be. My friends and I enjoyed low manning content at 75(there was quite a bit of good content)

FFXI IS still enjoyable but its not the same experience as it was at level 75. Level 75 took teamwork, effort and finishing a lot of hard content, be it storyline or just something endgame related with your friends was very rewarding.

Upsides

- Very easy to level solo.
- Easier to level in an Abyssea party.
- Easiest MMO to level in.
- Very easy to gear at level 90+
- A lot of content (in a game that's been out 10 years this is expected.. however some of it is just revamped old content)
- Its not a hard game to pick up and play, they got rid of most of what made the game complicated(which can be counted as a downside too?)
- One of the easiest MMOs on the market(... sorry fanboys you're no longer playing a game with a high skill requirement...)
- Emperyan armor sets and weapons are a joke to obtain despite what another person has said it takes almost no time at all to get a decent set of equipment if you put some effort into it, but it doesn't take much.(I have seen someone go from new trial to level 85 emperyan in 6 days without issue)
-FFXI has catered to casual players so there is still a decently large player base depending on server(hey it's proof that casual players help keep MMOs alive now isn't it?)

Now that that is out of the way, since I always see both sides of the coin...

Downsides
-Even if you leech xp in parties, you still will need to skillup and get gear or you'll be useless.
-Very few people in FFXI help out anyone else anymore(more people helped eachother when 75 was the cap)
-There is almost no learning curve to FFXI anymore. A lot of people don't even know the basis for jobs or what they can do.
(I met a RDM the other day that actually said MND is useless for RDM. When i told them MND governs white magic(specifically paralyze and slow) and most of their sword weaponskills(they were using a sword), they said INT did... I've met DDs that didn't know what secondary damage modifiers were and THFs that didn't know what DEX does for Sneak attack and AGI does for trick attack... some didn't even know at 60+ TA will always crit if used behind someone else... Just a few examples and this is VERY common now...)
- You still have the "hardcore" players with attitude problems that think they are better than everyone else, you'll never lose them regardless of MMO though.

In the end its still enjoyable but also still far from perfect. I personally am only playing until 2.0 comes out. What made FFXI great for me... the incredible storylines, the difficult fights doing some missions the sense of achievement is all gone. Teamwork in parties or alliances are not as needed as they once were. Maybe to hit weaknesses in their weakness targeting system(TERRIBLE CONCEPT BY THE WAY!) but that's about it.

There is still a lot to it but there have been no good story lines since before Wings of the goddess, the addons were terrible for storyline, especially Abyssea.

If you're just looking to kill some time, FFXI is still good for that though, just don't expect the same experience.