Whether FFXI was a better game is a matter of opinion, one that the majority of players FFXIV:ARR is aimed at (whether you like it or not, Yoshi wanted to draw in the WoW crowd) are likely to disagree with. Saying that FFXI was more successful than FFXIV:ARR also doesn't have any ground at this point. What are you basing that off of? FFXIV:ARR hasn't been out for a decade, and you don't know that it won't be around.. so can't really be better there. FFXIV:ARR has more subscribers than FFXI ever had.. and ARR turned around SE's profits for the better this year.. though I can't get exact numbers.. so money-wise FFXIV has either already beaten out FFXI, or is well on the way there.

Not saying FFXI was a bad game, obviously many people enjoyed it, however it wasn't everyone's cup of tea. Just like not every MMO is going to be your cup of tea. Games, in general, should not be made to feel like a job.. they're for entertainment after all. Not to say some people don't find grinding fun, but they sure seem to be in the minority.

EXP farming is in this game, and if you have bad spawn points then it's sure going to slow down your leveling. But hey, then you might be leveling at a speed that would seem less casual to you, so perhaps that's better? I personally don't see a difference in handicapping yourself in that manner versus adding exp grind designated areas to the game and increasing experience to level. They both translate to the same thing.