As a white mage (or RDM) I appreciated the challenge that these ailments brought. I would have to pay careful attention to when the tank was about to get paralyzed so I can heal him up (or bad things would happen).
I would have to remember to be echo drops with me.. (or bad things would happen).

That (among many other traits in combat mechanis in FFXI) were some of the finer points that made FFXI much more 'strategic'. In their quest to make FFXIV simple they have succeeded in removing this.

Sadly, in also making fighting multiple mobs at the same time common, it is also hard to put this back. We no longer have the time to focus on one (and only one) mob over the course of several minutes to ensure everything is done right. We have to focus on 2-3 (or more) mobs at a time, which die so quickly there is no need to really worry about strategy.

I am hoping 2.0 brings back some more finer details to combat strategy, rather than simply point & click.