I really don't understand how you can say you didn't notice copy & paste graphics in FFXIV and say at the same time that it was so obvious in FFXI. In FFXI I could travel through most zones without even looking at my map once to see where I was, because there were landmarks everywhere. All I do in FFXIV is checking my mini-map to go from point A to point B since everything looks the same. The camps are the same, the areas are the same, I just need to walk 10 malms to be back to the same place I was 3 minutes ago.
The main difference is that we don't have to look "hard enough" in FFXIV to notice the copy/pasted terrain as it is obvious and clear. Now indeed, and obviously there were copied stuff in FFXI but they never bothered me because every place was different and unique. Since the alpha, all I see is we have 5 huge regions and that's it, no lore, no uniqueness, no magic, nothing. When I started in Limsa and saw the names of the camps, like Cedarwood for example. I thought cool I am going to see something different in this area, cedars here and there. But no, nothing differs, this camp feels like every other camp. Blackbrushes around Camp Blackbrush ? A small pond and magical bushes near Camp Tranquil ? Old bones à la Tahrongi Canyon around Camp Drybone ?
They wouldn't have to change that much, but take for example the red flowers you see when you walk to Camp Tranquil, you almost never see anything special in any area that when I walk by these flowers, first I know where I am, then I am thrilled to see something different. Wouldn't you be happy seeing an oasis when walking in a neverending desert ?
As for character customisation, it's not that different from the one in FFXI, we don't have that many choices. And about weapon skills, the character animations were indeed copied but the weapon skill animation in itself was enough to have us not being bothered. If I look at my lancer now, seeing that my low rank weapon skill looks the same as my rank 50 is just not acceptable.