11 or 14

[Areya]

Since FFXIV's release is imminent, suppose I should ask this one.

[Zerila]

I'm really curious about the improvements to 14, but I don't have the time to play both... I barely have enough time now to get back into FFXI. So, I'm sticking with what I know, even though they added a boatload of new content that I have to figure out

[Majestica]

Chris and I are playing 14, we're hooked! It looks beautiful, it's fun to play, we're managing to find time almost every day to play even with both of us working and Chris going to school. It's not a time sink like 11, you can log in and do a couple quests, run a dungeon, or play for hours if you choose! Even leveling crafting is fun! I have a lvl 30 archer, lvl 8 pugilist (leveling that tonight so I can unlock bard!) and a lvl 8 carpenter. Not to mention character creation is SO customizable, I am SO damn cute! Red hair with purple highlights, pigtails, markings on my face to look like whiskers, I even got to pick my TAIL! I like it =)

[Ryudei]

Everything Maj said, it's a whole lot of fun and easy to get into.  XIV supports casual play a lot better than XI, and there's a bunch more modern features that allow you to group up more easily.  There's a Duty Finder that lets you register for what dungeon you want to enter, it'll queue you up on the job you're on, and then you can run off and swap jobs and craft, fish, mine, solo level, do whatever until the Duty Finder let's you know your group is ready.  I'll admit it's a little impersonal (it draws players from all servers so it's hard to form friendships and keep in touch, or conversely blacklist and avoid certain people >_>) but I'll take a 10min wait in an automated queue for something I want to do while I do stuff on other jobs versus shout camping in Jeuno for hours with no other activities to keep me occupied.  And there's a ton of stuff to do solo as well, even the AF quests are designed for solo play (it actually forces you to do them solo).  You should definitely try it out!

[Vivec]

I'm bored so gonna write a mini review...

FFXIV is definitely not as hardcore as FFXI was when I played, and XI will always have a place in my heart as the best experience I ever had playing an MMORPG... but no way I could start back over there!

XIV is far from perfect.. here are my issues with it:
-the story line is a bit crazy and a bit too much.. FFXIV is the MGS4 of MMORPGs, WAY too many cutscenes!
-level scaling is pretty bad. I've solo kite killed things as much as 8 levels higher than me (As a melee DPS class <_<), and after hitting level 50 ran to some level 10ish areas and couldn't one shot things unless I crit or used an ability.
-Gear scaling is bad too. My Dragoon's main stat (STR) does not seem to make a very big difference in damage output...
-4 person parties means longer queues for DPS.. I think they should have stuck with 6.
-They need to speed up the time it takes to block another player. The first/last name system is cool, but when you have a RMT guy named Sjksnlgfl Mjesnflnl spamming shouts for their gil selling website it's a huge hassle to block them.
-The duty finder dungeons aren't as rewarding as fates, and you can't kick people from the groups. So if you join a duty and someone AFKs 10 minutes, there's NOTHING you can do about it except maybe leave the group yourself, which results in a 15 minute wait to re queue, and an even longer wait to get into a group if you're a Damage dealer.

As got the good points (which FAR outweigh the bad to me):
-There are a lot of options for leveling up, between leves, fates, guildhests, dungeons, hunting logs, and old fashioned grinding.
-They reward bigger groups with more exp instead of penalizing it. Awesome idea to me to help support the community environment. You also get exp and credit for helping someone kill something that's in your level range.
-Even though there's lots of parts about the game that are easy, the game in general is much more challenging then WoW or the other modern MMORPGs.
-Even though the story has too many cutscenes and is convoluted, it's still a very good story and makes your character feel very special!
-FATEs are fun and a cool way to meet people on your server.
-Almost everything about the UI is customizable.
-Even though I kinda slammed the game before for stats not mattering as much, I think it's good in a way like XI where it helps breed more skilled players who are worried about survival and winning the fights over personal DPS output.
-This is hands down the most complete and easy to learn MMO I ever started. XI I didn't know what the heck was going on when I started, WoW was much better then XI but still had a bunch of holes. XIV blows the original versions of those games out of the water.

Aaand the most important thing to me, like Maj said.. you can make progress in this game even if you're a casual player. I work full time and go to school full time, and still feel when I log in I can make meaningful progress for the most part.

[Majestica]

See... I haven't experienced the problems in the guildhests or dungeons because I am leveling with my very own tank Every time Chris and I queue up, we get in instantly! We are just a tank and a dd, so if you are a healer or dd....always welcome to join us!

[Ryudei]

I think you may not notice it because damage numbers aren't that big right now but the primary stats actually have a really big impact on your dps.  1STR is equal to like 10DTR.  (Don't quote me on those numbers, just saying STR is huge!)  Forget about Skill Speed, DTR, Crit Rate.  Boost your primary stat over everything else!

[Vivec]

I think you may not notice it because damage numbers aren't that big right now but the primary stats actually have a really big impact on your dps.  1STR is equal to like 10DTR.  (Don't quote me on those numbers, just saying STR is huge!)  Forget about Skill Speed, DTR, Crit Rate.  Boost your primary stat over everything else!

I did some testing on the level 1 and 50 dummies, and I found that 20 Strength makes a 3-4% difference in damage for both auto attack and abilities... 20 strength is significant increase by any measure based on the gear available. To put 4% in perspective, it takes 24 hits to have an across the board difference in damage equal to one hit.. that means that one time you moved back slow from avoiding AoE you could have canceled out the effect of 20 strength lol

Now what makes a huge difference is weapons... I equipped my old weapon, which has like 6 less damage than my ifrit weapon, and I see a 20% decrease in damage output. So that relic seems super important!

[Ryudei]

Just saying, it's the most significant stat.  Not going to argue weapons make a huge difference!  4% is a decent increase anyway, I should do some testing on my own.