The FFXI is still there argument does not work. They overhauled ffxi, so sorta a different game then it use to be. Can't really go back to it if you want to play what most say when they want "FFXI". Would be like saying classic WoW and Current WoW are the exact same game just one has less content. FFXI current and Pre-abysea are the same situation, same theme but drastically different play style, feel, and focus.

But yes FFXIV is probably the most causal focused mmo on the market, and it is ungodly simplistic, overly casual, and dumbed down to the point of a major fault. The game is almost 100% revolving around glamour, mount farming, and vanity at this point. but it is way too old to do any major overhauls though as it would take a rework of almost everything to unsimplify it and add some unique things, depth, and any kind of player choice. It honestly has the same problem WoW had in BfA and legion and such had. Only different is the story in FFXIV is drastically better, and it is even more casual focused.

The main reason it will not change though is Yoshida. He does not want a full deep and complex mmo. The player choice, risk vs reward, large guilds, huge open world, rare loot farming, strong economy, complex classes and so on. He wants a casual, highly polished co-op themepark style ff game that is designed for people who have very little game time to play.

And for those people with families, 10-20hrs of max game time a week, or those wanting something they can just log into and log out of without any commitment FFXIV is the best choice of a mmo style game atm. An overhaul at this point would cause alot of the playerbase to quit, because most the players of this game after all these years are extremely casual players who want this style of game. There was alot more hardcore player back in ARR's day but they either moved on and quit entirely, or they log in for major raid patches play for a few months then unsub for a half a year.

Tldr; FFXIV is not a game that has Depth and Complexity and it is that way by design. If you like it keep playing if not go elsewhere because the devs made it clear this style game was their intent.