Simplicity over complexity, time to change.

[Redemption]

That's like saying that the world has stagnated because wheels have been round for hundreds of years.

On the other hand, if we went back to FFXI's standards, we'd get something worse than stagnation, we'd get regression.

No it wouldn't, WoW is not an 'evolution' of FFXI it is a completely different path entirely. An EVOLUTION of FFXI's mechanics would be finding a way to keep the MMO an online world but remove some of the problems, WoW instead chooses not to be an online world entirely but more of an online meta-game about rolling through gear progression with friends.

To make sure the point is clear, I do not believe FFXI used "outdated" systems but rather was a different kind of game. Some people like the WoW style gameish style, thats fine and there are lots of mmos like that (its the most common type of mmo around today) but its not what everyone likes or wants.