I just tried FFXIV. Got to level 30 LNC in 2 days. So far my impressions from an avid FFXI player:
1) Battles seem fun for the first 20 hours because they're extremely active, can dodge special attacks(the mob's display a cone or circle of the AoE range before executing)
2) Quests are stupid easy. Initiate quest->run 30seconds to another NPC->Run back to first->Bam 4k EXP(enough to level you up like 80% of the way)
3) Storyline is boring, I had to like skip every cut scene because the missions are so boring and unengaging.
4) Unlike FFXI, FFXIV is way grittier. People in cutscenes die, are executed/put to death, rape is implied sometimes.
5) Transportation can be executed from anywhere you are by casting 'Teleport" and it will bring you to any attuned "home point" you visited before and attuned to. Teleportation costs gil and varies by distance from current location. Can attune 3 'favorites' which reduce cost, and one 'free' home point. Can D2 yourself with a 'Return' spell every 15min. Every class/job can do this.
6) Every freaking quest rewards you with equipment(you usually get EXP/Gil and then an option of 1 piece of equipment either heavy armor, light armor or mage armor). You almost never need to buy gear because literally every quest gives a leveled piece of equipment.
7) Can't change gear mid-fight
8) Instanced dungeons are looooooooooong. Some of them are like 30-40min and it's killing a lot of fodder. But moreover, the queue for duty finder to find people to help you with lowbie dungeons is like 30-40min sometimes(but however there are good 'incentive' exp/gil/item bonuses for higher ppl to sync down and help you, it's an automated process so it's streamined). But the instanced dungeons are level capped so they aren't soloable by any means(even potions have a 1min reuse time and DPS jobs don't have the ability to solo 4-5 mobs at once).
9) You can click on a dungeon entrance and set duty finder which means the server will look for people for you while you do other stuff. Problem is most light party(4 person dungeons) require 2DPS/1Healer/1tank. It's not like FFXI where you can bring whatever you want into anything...which makes sense considering every class is VERY specialized in this game, there's no 'Red Mage' or real hybrid jobs, every class/job is locked into 1 role officially. Luckily there are multiple tank jobs and multiple healer jobs.
10) You will get SPAMMED with /tells every few min from gilseller RMT bots. EVERY MINUTE,LITERALLY.
11) Seems to have a weaker community. You don't see 'shouts' or 'yells' since everything is handled by the duty finder. Cities are spread out. Been playing for a few days and the game seems 'lonely'. When you do a dungeon with a randomly generated party, the party auto-disbands as soon as you kill the boss.
12) Loot dropped in dungeons can be lotted with priority if you're on a job that can use it currently. So if a heavy armor drops and you're on WHM, the 'lot' option is grayed out, however, there are 3 options when items drop "Need" "Greed" "Pass". "Need" is enabled if the item can be equipped by your current job. If your job doesn't match, you can't select it. "Greed" can be selected in this case however, meaning if nobody "Needs" the item and you select "Greed" you can obtain it but only if everyone either selects Greed or Pass. In other words if a Book drops and you don't have a SCH or SMN, nobody can select "Need", so everyone can select "Pass" or "Greed"(if they want it but arent on that job). If even one person can equip the item now and selects "Need", then their lots get priority over anyone who selects greed.