If there's one thing I think would improve the new-player experience, it would be UI

[GeminiReed]

Still better than WoW

At least the players have the ability to swap it out for something better. Square's hard line stance against mods really works against them here.

While I have a laundry list of things I'd like to change with this game's UX, ...

Square desperately needs to hire a UX and accessibility team that has executive power over UI decisions and schedules.

Now, it's been a while since I started a fresh character, so they may have changed it. But if it still functions that way, I remain of the opinion that it would be one of the smallest changes you could make with one of the biggest impacts.

Oh they changed it all right, in true Square fashion they made it even more irritating. There's no longer an opt out on the pop-up, you need to dive into the config options to turn it off. Instead of being seen as helpful they've made it into a pain point.