Quote Originally Posted by Alberel View Post
When I say XI-2 I don't mean system for system identical. I mean he was making a very similar world with very similar values at the heart of the game. Look at the things that made XI unique in the modern MMO world: access to all roles on one character, massive reliance on group play, a story driven main narrative, realistic travel times, lots and lots of downtime (which actually is the key to building a social community and precisely why so few players care to be social in newer MMOs). The soul of XIV was clearly intended to be the same as XI, even if the systems themselves were different or evolutions of XI.
Literally none of what you listed was unique to FFXI when it was released. not a single thing. The similarities between 11 and 14 apply to nearly every MMO as well, so I'm not sure what point you're trying to make there.

As for Ishgard, you're speculating at this point so I don't see a reason to argue it. Irrelevant in either case.