I might agree on this one.

The 1.0 version always downloading patch first when we start it and only goes to login screen after it finishes. On a side note, patch download files can also be distributed in other means too in-case the built in patch download are too slow. Oh... as a bonus, 1.0 has BGM of either grid/noscea/uldah cycled every time you're in check files & patching window which is great.

XI on the other hand, allows downloading patch before or after login, with a catch. If you download the patch after you logged in and press Play, it will only check and download necessary update files needed. But if you try to download before login via the Check Files menu, it will scan all game data files you have and cross-checking every one of them, then it will proceed to download the updated files, which for some reason takes even slightly longer than the login version.

Other recent MMO games I tried like SWTOR or Elder Scroll Online downdoad patch fist before login, iirc.