I tried FFXI a little while after all the fuss had calmed down. I found
a) Was very hard to get into and catch up
b) Required a lot of teamwork to do mostly everything
c) Was very slow and repetitive
I love the single player games, but I couldn't get into it. Maybe because I started late, but I joined WoW a year or so late and I fitted right in. It was a different sort of game. FF much more grindy and group dependant. Good for some, not for me, i like to solo mostly.