Did squenix make a mistake by investing too much in graphics and not enough in

[Ilean]

Off the top of my head I can list quite a few games that require very hefty systems to run adequately....

Metro 2033, Witcher 2, Crysis 2, Shogun 2... Metro 2033 is even worse than FFXIV... Running it on 2560x1600 with Max AA, tessellation, max textures, shadows... have fun with that.
Try needing multiple cards to run it max

They may require monster systems to be maxed out, but my PC that pumps witcher 2's beautiful environments at 45 fps on medium settings will choke on FFXIV if more than 3 people are on screen.

Also the idea that a MMO may not have action based gameplay is as stupid as saying that JRPGs may only have menu based combat. Technical or design limitations may have limited gameplay to slow, uninvolving gameplay in the genre's early years but there is no reason why it should stay that way forever.