If you want to develop new and better tools and functions for your MMO games, do it in smaller steps and find out if they will be successful first.
Sounds nice, but impractical when you are designing a new product. The design decisions made on conception usually sticks to the end because the code becomes increasingly hard to change as time goes by. Just look at the WoW clones out there - Small steps indeed...

Though commercially unsuccessful, I applaud SE's willingness and attempt to break the mold with FFXIV. You won't find many companies out there willing to take such risks and make such sweeping changes across all aspects of a game.