Breezer, you hit the nail on the head. FFXI was in many ways a great game, and FFXIV looks promising. But SE, more than any other developer, does not listen to their playerbase. I played the game for it's first year or so in the US, and during that time no class or game issues were ever touched upon. Spells listed in the game guide but not available were not released. Dragoons were not buffed to be useful or fun. SE finally released a patch shortly before the expansion, but it didn't fix any of the glaring issues, besides nerfing Ninja tanking a little. The expansions didn't also didn't add anything that players had asked for.

I don't know whether Japanese developers just refuse to listen to their playerbase, or whether it's a problem of communication between an Eastern developer and their Western players, but the there was zero interaction. Playing a game like LOTRO where the developers regularly post on the forums and answer questions--and game updates clearly reflect the community's concerns--is a world of difference.