You can't compare a game that was developed and released a decade ago to a game that was developed and released a year ago. The excuse of, "XI was terrible at launch too" is a bad one. If anything it's more damning to SE than anything; they have a decade of experience, but are dealing with huge problems that first-timers in the industry don't face. Tools and procedures for development and implementation have come a long way in the last decade, but it seems like SE didn't get the memo.

As for XIV, it doesn't feel anywhere near as polished as XI did when XI was released in NA.