How exactly is FFXIV like WoW?

[TouchandFeel]

Actually, Everquest borrowed a lot of its structure from Ultima Online, which is credited as being the first "true" MMO (meaning element standards that persist to today). All current and past MMOs owe their existence to UO.

That is very true, UO was the first MMO and it did heavily influence EQ but I still feel that EQ was the first modern MMO (a different distinction in my mind) as it was the first fully 3D MMO and introduced many of the basic MMO trappings that we find today. While UO had some of the stuff that has persisted to MMO's today, I feel that the basic structure of MMO's now is more akin to EQ. All in all, I feel that both our statements are true.
So I guess it would go more like DnD PnP>MUD's>UO>EQ>WoW