A similar MMO undergoing a "FFXIV" phase?

[Bahn]

Something a friend (who's tried to play FFXIV in the first few months but got burned by it, as many people have) sent to me, that gave me a "hey, this looks familiar" vibe to it:

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011...e-monthly-fee/

Anyone played this before? The article seems to show that this MMO is going through similar things as FFXIV, and now they're going free to play until the game meets up to their expectations. How did it start off? Where is it going?

"Jitters/stutters/poor performance" seems to properly describe FFXIV to a T at this point, which 2.0 claims to fix, so I'm wondering if what this article is saying is true for someone who personally experienced this game firsthand.

This company doesn't seem to have the same resources as SE does, but I imagine that also makes them a bit more nimble since there's fewer staff to have to manage. What do you think?