To begin I want to point out that my linkshell buddies and I are long time veterans of XI, having unlocked and overcome every zone and nearly every HNM XI offered (You guys were pretty funny with your Absolute Virtue, heh....)
We're Final Fantasy fans, we believe XI was the best MMO ever, and we are hoping for your success.

The world lacking as a Battle Environment
A wee little Tarutaru Black Mage in the nation of Windurst is how I began my adventure in Final Fantasy XI. The game loaded and I found myself in my lively and bubbly new home, set to the happy-go-lucky musical score that later seemed to summarize the kind-hearted and spirited nature of the characters that lived there. My fellow Windurstians raced to and fro on countless errands, while NPC's gave me not only humorous anecdotes into the everyday life of the people, but also spoke of great wars and a great hero, who, in the nations darkest hour, saved it with an act of great self sacrifice. The world felt alive, with great depth and a rich history and a culture all its own. I was INSPIRED to play, to grow, to learn.

When I ventured outside the safety of the city walls for the first time, with my little staff and my little green sweater, I knew a whole wide world awaited me. I soon also learned that danger did, as well. I soon found myself running for my life, from goblins, from Yagudo, from monsters that tempted me with a hefty XP prize.
Most importantly, I soon learned to FEAR death, and it was the penalty of death that instilled that fear, not an eyesore of an aggro icon hovering like an insult over every peril.

The XP loss from dying in XI was a punishing one, to be sure, but in XI, dying was learning, and before long I was not making the same mistakes twice.

In FFXIV, what you think you've done is eliminate the pain and punishment for death.
What you've actually done is eliminate the thrill of survival.

And so I learned and I grew and I progressed, not only as a character, but as a player, too.

When the time had come, I bought myself a hooden brown tunic and set off, leaving the security of Windursts walls behind and embarking on a journey most treacherous, through two zones riddled with dangers, to reach the town of Mhaura, a little seaport that felt like a safe haven, a reward for having made it past the goblins patrolling the zones before. I had made it, where others from Windurst had told me they had failed. I could breath a sigh of relief. Again, I was amazed with the game. The scope and depth of the world I had already found to be incredible, and I was a mere level ten.

After learning from the NPC's a little more about the world of Vana'diel, I pressed on, eager to reach my final destination.
I boarded a ferry I was told would take me to the big level up spot, the Valkrum Dunes. Wow! Incredible! I actually have to ride a ferry! Again, I was so impressed.
I assumed all peril was behind me. I was wrong, and I found myself huddled in the lower decks of a ship with twenty others like me, as if we were refugees, hoping to not be caught and killed by skeleton-pirates that had pulled up alongside and boarded in the open ocean.

Needless to say, when we reached Selbina, I felt a sense of having accomplished something, of having progressed, of having explored, of having survived the first trials of an unforgiving world. So did everyone that had made it with me.

I started in the city of Windurst, surrounded by green fields, little streams and magical ruins, and now found myself in a sandy dune on the oceans edge, allied with other races from other nations that I had not yet seen, working as a team and desperately trying to keep each other alive against enemies we would have no chance against alone.
And those I partied with, from San d'Oria, from Bastok, who had come where I had come, albeit on a different path, they had learned to fear death, too.
And all of us fought accordingly, we fought like we feared death, and when we didn't die, when we held the line, we experienced together the thrill of surviving, of winning.

And that, essentially, was the magic of Final Fantasy XI. At level 1 or at level 75, it was all on the line. Again, to emphasize, it was always all on the line.
And when it wasn't, it was a rewarding peace, not a moment of boredom, such as sitting with my friends on a hill in Sarabatuba [S] and simply enjoying the music together.

There was always a sense of progression, of an evolving adventure, from the ferry, to the dunes, to the always memorable first journey to Jeuno and the first journey home.

From the rabbits, to the goblins, to the giant boulder throwing Gigas of Qufim island, it was always evolving, always changing, always exciting. It had a magic to it that every veteran of XI will remember.

And again, again, and again, it was always all on the line.
And that brought the community together. Your Final Fantasy playerbase does not want to play another MMO. It wants to play a Final Fantasy MMO.
It doesn't want to be treated like incapable infants, it wants to be challenged. It wants to have to make the incredible escape through corridors with death nipping at their heels, where, acts of individual bravery for the sake of their friends manage to see them all through alive.

For the development team, Final Fantasy should be about what it is about to its players - the journey.
And no journey worth taking, or worth remembering, is an easy one.

In FFXIV I started in Gridania. I mindlessly killed enemies too pathetic to remember. Those capable of presenting a threat "returned to their territory."
I reached Ul'dah without anything happening worth noting, without seeing anything worth remembrance.

Now I do leves, the most mindless form of progressing I have ever seen, where my comrades and I beat to death the same sheep and gnats and wolves day after day after day.
If one of us dies, nobody cares. If we all survive, nobody cares about that, either. If I see someone in trouble, I don't bother to help them, nor would they bother to help me, because it doesn't matter. Nothing is on the line, nothing matters.

In eliminating failure from your game you have also eliminated success.

I realize this forum is not an FFXI nostalgia forum, but I think the developers of FFXIV could use a little FFXI nostalgia if they wish to save this game.

I think the greatest advice anyone can give you in your efforts to salvage this game is as follows:
Listen to the song "Answers,"... and then justify its existence.
Godspeed, Yoshi P.