Double post, but on an unrelated note:

Something I'm wishing for? I hope 2.0 gets a closed alpha period with testers from the current XIV 1.0 "paid beta" being able to play on those servers. I think if we are around during their alpha testing phase, we'll be able to help steer their development in the right direction, rather than just playing a beta when the product is towards completion.

If they do go a closed alpha route, they need to implement a robust feedback system (like SWTOR's beta had) that allows us to give direct feedback on every aspect of the game: after quests, after getting jobs, etc. On occasion the feedback system in SWTOR even came up just randomly while you were doing stuff, allowing you to tell the developers exactly what you were doing at the time and whether or not you enjoyed it and why.

More importantly, the dev team needs to keep a very open ear to the feedback of the closed alpha testers, as a friend of mine told me several issues that were in the alpha, made it into the beta, and even made it into the final release. The previous dev team was only half responsive, but I think with this new dev team they'll be keeping a closer watch on the community.