Amazing reads, and I think I'll start following your posts. You both clearly have the experience and the objectivity needed to write credibly about the industry.

My favorite trait of XIV is that it offers a reasonable chance for new players to catch up to their endgame friends. FFXI has become much easier than it ever was, yet I've spent months developing my THF from 17 to 99 and still can't feel satisfied to use it in endgame. I've spent weeks developing the empyrean gear and am now at a standstill because the NMs I need require pop items from other NMs, and as a returning player I'd hate to trouble anyone I barely know to help with all of that.

FFXIV from 1.19ish onward was not hard to jump into, and you could reach endgame in a matter of weeks even without a PL. Grouping was encouraged by leves, but not required. The jobs weren't hard to learn, and the game's group-oriented challenges relied more heavily on the strategic layouts of individual fights than an excessive ability list (8 years later I'm still bogged down by my White Mage spell list in XI). I loved my time in XI, but XIV has shown me just how much more fun it is to never feel like I'm eternally behind the times.