I get that people want XIV to be different, on the other hand, FFXI was very successful by MMO standards (excluding WoW). So why not take quite a few elements from something that was good and incorporate it into XIV and possibly make it better? Even little things like job names, race names, keep some familiarity there but make the job different with new abilities, etc. I know they kept the same race look, but, just keep the names the same, it's what most players use anyways.

I guess my opinion is, you had something successful, so why completely stray from it, it makes no sense.