Like someone else said, you're talking about things that came out in FFXI after many years. The automaton in particular is from the third expansion, which means we're talking something in the neighborhood of 5 years? after release. Even then, it was still something that they had to optimize over time.

FFXIV's big problem right now is that everything is so mind numbingly straightforward. The original FFXIV ability system was highly convoluted, but it was very diverse and interesting. The change to what we have now was a major step backwards IMO. However, SE has acknowledged that there will be some changes to the ability system once the first expansion is released. Whether or not they deliver is another story, but they are at least aware.