I started MMO's with FFXI on my PS2.... I have to say I LOVED the game, but it was really annoying that once you hit like level 10, you COULDN'T SOLO anymore... You HAD to have a party, or you would get OWNED, BAD.... Only one of my friends played it, and his sister did to... Then they changed to WoW, and I gave it a try after a month or two, and I love WoW now.
There are some MAJOR differences to note between FFXI and WoW... First is that FFXI area's seemed to be LARGER, and more to scale.... I remember starting in the mining city (cant remember the name.. something with a B perhaps...) and it LITERALLY TOOK like 20 - 30 minutes of just running to get to that beach area where you can take a boat to the other continent.
I would like to see WoW be expanded to include another few continents, and be able to freely use boats to get between them... like in that one Zelda game for GC... (I have it but hardly play it). I think it was Windwaker.. or somethin...
I LOVE MMO'S.....