What did FF14 have right, at launch?

[Shurrikhan]

The unique mob behaviors and traits. A complaint about a single mishap and they nix the entire thing. Really hope they bring it back

What's sad is that the system to fix the problem without cutting out unique mob behavior already seems to be in place. Just today I constantly AoE'd level 52 mobs without pulling them (doing level 43 leves and at level 40 if those are factors).

Heck, the party leader could just have a Link Difficulty slider that determines whether anything more will be pulled. Gimicky, sure, but cutting out something that makes the game unique for such a fixable reason feels... wrong.
______________________________________________________________________________

I didn't start at release, but had been playing a while before Tanaka's replacement. The things that seemed "right" off the bat were the armory system and cross-class usage, even if it could have been better. I enjoyed the ability to stack linear cannons (Puncture, Skewer, Doomspike) on Archer, or even fire an air-fist Haymaker after a ranged dodge.

It didn't feel hugely class-specific, but to me the style of each classes's abilities felt more like the class than the reform's abilities for a long time. Skewer and Doomlance available within 12 levels felt far more Lancerish than True Thrust and Heavy Thrust. With Moonrise and Trammel also in Lancer's debilitation aspect, it truly felt like a Lancer.

That Thaum's already established lore was bypassed almost entirely in order to separate it from Thaum by a basically arbitrary method, or the reduction of original classes early levels into identical abilities with different names. Why dark-side element wheel over Light/Dark/Blood, even though it was already fitting to the Thaumaturge guild and its quest connections? If it was done just for raiding, couldn't a less intrusive fix have been made? And why must DoW classes only differ in only a little over half their abilities?

[This class gets a dodge-stun, this one a parry-AoE, this one a miss-rehit. This one gets Power Surge, this one Berserk, this one Fists of Fire, to the same ends but different enough. Yet True Thrust and Heavy Swing, and Fast Blade and Pummel are literally identical, and the majority of later combo actions follow the same problem.]

[Mudd]

I always fancied the Stamina System

[Relic]

Graphics. Shiny shiny graphics.

[Amherst]

and of course my NPC companion talking about spontaneous orgies and sex with beastmen)

...why do I not remember this? XD; Just what companion did you choose, anyway? Nothing of the sort coming from mine (female Duskwight Elezen).

On-topic, Jinko said it pretty well. I really can't think of a single thing the game had right at launch personally. Whatever may have been there was probably blocked out by how absolutely horrible every single other aspect of the game was.