What they keep saying is that the foundation will be traditional, while the additional layers (like BR and positional aspects, the job/class system and character stat growth) will make it stand out.

All MMO devs say things like this, though. What makes me optimistic, though, is that they can't exactly turn the game completely around and create something exactly like any other MMO. They can try, but I doubt they could pull it off. The game still has and will have a certain unique feel to it.

What helps is that nothing is a pure rip-off (from outside the franchise at least) and in a traditional SE fashion everything that is borrowed is implemented in a way unique to this game. Yes, we have features like an exclamation mark now, but it's not a huge, yellow cartoonish one. It's the FFXIV exclamation mark. The job system won't be called 'talent tree', and even the combat, when AA is taken into account, still is something of it's own rather than an exact copy. It's all speculation at this point, but I see normal attacks still having a larger role in this game than other games where it's just little extra DoT. Their "raids" have a time limit which already create completely different, arguably superior or inferior atmosphere. Hopefully the concept of "trash mobs" is also left for other MMO's.

At the end of the day I think it comes down to content and the special quirks they will work on in the future like solo combos and positioning. plus the focus on creating a compelling world with a huge potential. Even if players only care about epic lewtz in the long run, IMO a world and a story that draws you in and make you actually care about advancing until you get hooked is just as important.