What was FFXI like when that first launched?

[Demacia]

True, but the reason why people are up in arms is that they were hoping SE would've learned from XI vanilla launch mistakes, not repeat them in some of the same categories.

This right here. Annoying part is people will straight up attack you for suggesting that FFXIV take/learn from FFXI's features, but they'll be the first to say "IT'S OKAY THAT THIS GAME'S LAUNCH IS TERRIBLE JUST LOOK AT FFXI'S JP LAUNCH 9 YEARS AGO".