I would put my self in the crowd that was really hoping to see more of a Final Fantasy XI evolved, in Final Fantasy XIV. Just because a game follows the same principles as a predecessor does not mean it has to be the same game. All Final Fantasy games up until Final Fantasy X-2 (which was god awful) for the most part followed the same basic principles, and IMO that is what made a Final Fantasy a Final Fantasy.

In Final Fantasy XIII Square Enix again tried to change the Final Fantasy formula and what did they get a massively hated game in Japan with a few Fan purchases in NA. I remember when i saw a posting on a forum for FFXIII where a guy posted a picture of a group of people in japan throwing their games into a fire pit (there are a bunch of FFXIII hate pictures lol).

P.S. i am still enjoying this game, just not as much as i did FFXI, and the challenge it offered me.