Although the relics in FFXI were clearly the 'best' you could get, content wasn't designed around these relics because they were SO RARE. The relics in FFXI did not set the standard. They were above and beyond all things, but when content was created/tested, it did not consider the relics in existence. No one 'needed' a relic to do well.

In FFXIV, relics are easier to get (if you have a skilled, dedicated group of just 8 people), so I feel as though they might be taken into consideration when new content is made, at least more than FFXI relics were. What I mean to say is... FFXIV relics might become more of a 'standard' while they were never a standard in FFXI.