Well if FFXIV took a similar approach to Abyssea, but without the increased exp - just the way the loot is, the NMs, the force pops/timed/vnm it's a great way to do raids.

The only reason Abyssea killed old FFXI was because you could enter at level 30, join 1 party, and level to 90 with 20 merits.

If FFXIV doesn't make that mistake, the abyssea method made FFXI a lot of fun. It only kills leveling areas because sits confined to 9 zones, and those 9 zones provide everything you'll ever need. Well, assuming you're level 30 or above.

Abyssea handled HNMs very well compared to oldworld final fantasy. Sure, there are still hacks, like allseeingeye that lets you see the ??? and trade your items faster, and some claim botting, but nowhere near as viscous as fafnir bots.

Your linkshells are never at a loss for things to do in Abyssea FFXI. In oldworld, you had to do most events when the HNM window was up, or do sky/sea. You were fairly restricted at first, and were slowly given more options (like Dynamis, Limbus, Ein, Salvage)... but nobody really wants the return of 21+ hour spawn NMs that leads to global claimbot competition.