I've been completely turned off by all MMO's so you might not agree with my answer.
Superficially, ffxi is very different now then it was. There's a lot more content and things to do.
Fundamentally however it is the same, just as all MMO's are the same. No matter the depth and breadth of the content you'll always rely on repeating petty tasks to get anywhere. The rest of the time you're at the mercy of the amount of time you're willing to put in, waiting on or begging other players for help, or wasting precious time because of the most tedious of mistakes or bad luck. MMO's are waste of time.