I'd rather SE take concepts from their previous FINAL FANTASY games like XI did, or even borrow the basics and event system items from XI (that was a successful MMO of theirs) than start ripping off random MMOs. Most MMOs post 2004 are realistically just a clone of WoW, which was a clone of many MMOs before it, so all they would be taking is the basic chat system, jumping and leveling through quests while leaving out as much story as possible.

I don't know about you, but I play MMORPGs for socialization and storylines...RPGs have storylines, most MMOs do not. FFXIV can do very well not going down the path of having a storyline told only through a slideshow or website backstory.