FPS drops like a stone before game crashes

[Drako]

There is a work around which i think involves disabling all the LOD features in your graphics settings

Actually it's enabling the two LOD features in FFXIV settings.

This issue is ongoing sense launch. It just gets severely exacerbated when SE puts a high demand on open world content(see HUNTS). It's a unfortunately problem due to using old DirectX on newer cards. Most people are hoping the new DX11 client will resolve this and all the performance problems. It's crazy to buy a top of the line GFX and find your getting less then 30FPS running around Mor Dhona at max settings. SE has never really made any official comment on this problem. I'm not really sure why, it's one glaring issue that a big chunk of their players are experiencing.

Check these posts for more info on the issue.
ATI Card compatibility issues!
Memory Leak Preformance Issue