Got through a few lines and saw this:

"[FFXI] was still immersive and engaging from levels 1 to max"
- Make a party and spend hours pulling the exact same type of monster over and over again. No events, no dungeons, quests dont give exp, no change of pace.

Then...

"after finishing hundred mindless, stupid easy quests [in ARR]" you are then stuck "grinding.. Behests, Levequests and dungeons, over, and over, and over"

I believe you may be experiencing what we call "rosy retrospection" wherein your long past experiences are remembered as far more positive than they actually were.