Partying is great

[Tsukino]

Same for me. FF XIV is the first game were i had fun grinding with a party.

I'm one of the few people who really enjoyed grinding with a party in FFXI. At least in the first few years, I enjoyed that you really had to work together with specific roles and you got more out of it with people who knew what they were doing regarding campsites, party configuration, equipment/food choices, skillchains, pulling rhythm, and just in general how to play their jobs well. In many other games I've gotten bored due to just grinding by myself or partying being nothing more than spamming the same abilities you use to solo in a larger group.

I was pleased to find that XIV gives me more of the feeling that XI did, and am excited that it could keep these dynamics going for even longer than XI did if they can fix the game up enough to appeal en masse.

And Airships... and Ifrit.. and Materia System... More ranks for Grand Companys... oh.. the happy days are soon to come! Oh yeah and Jobs "hopefully" in 1.20

And don't forget the removal of physical levels, which means they're free to make stats have a more profound effect on your capabilities. And that, in turn, means that there can be more to strive toward with better equipment like HQ crafted items and NM drops, and also possibly make food better and more important.