It's no big surprise really imo that all those games go f2p...
What do you do? Level up, Raid till you get best gear, and then PvP until you hit boredom.

Imo, that is the reason ffxi has such longevity, because it's such a long way with so many things to complete.
Multiple Jobs, multiple gear sets per job.. You're never really done gearing up, there's always a goal to chase.

At least FFXIV got multiple jobs.
Can you guys imagine if you only could pick 1 class? We'd be done so quickly and left with no goals...
*reason i'm in favor of gear swaps*