How will new players perceive this game? (A pessimistic outlook)

[Kallera]

And they will pretty well have the exact same experiance since there is nothing new. Players tend to play for efficiency. So there won't be much point in doing quests for sp or gear since you can push any dom/dow to rank 20 in under a day with little effort.

And this is where you are completely wrong. Many people I've played with in FFXI stated that the only reason they've kept with FFXI so long was because of the connections that they have made in game, many of them having days where they would just sit in Aht Urghan in linkchat. They weren't playing for efficiency, they played for community that brought them together.

When the game started, repairs were constant, the game speed was much worse, the timing of levequests and behests, 15 man parties. SP Leveling was based on actions taken in battle...The list is not only the entire change log of this game.
but also, All the updates and revisions prior to PS3 release.

"Nothing new" my foot.