Yet another interview..Kotaku however.

[Zantetsuken]

The reason behind making FFXIV 'different from FFXI' was due to the fact that SE wanted to keep both MMO's up and running simultaneously.

It's the same reason that after 8 years, the FFXI level cap was finally raised, they need a big and compelling reason to keep FFXI players paying with FFXIV now out on the market.

Sadly, this strategy ended up ruining both games.