This is not what I call a downgrade

[Punainen]

It does look fantastic, though the sheer volume of shadows on the ground from trees I fear will look like a giant mess with my shadow settings turned down to minimum like they usually are (for performance rather than detail).

Well, with the new engine, perhaps you wont NEED to turn the shadows down low. I'll probably crank my graphics up real high, as XIV works relatively well for me on high settings even now.