As dendraki said FFXI was repetitive.
Here was my formula for all my characters created everytime.
Levels:
1-5:
Bastok: Solo in Zeruhn Mines.
San d'Oria: Solo in Ronfaure.
Windurst: Solo in Saruta Baruta.
5-10:
Bastok: Solo in Gustaberg (up on hills) while trying to get beehive chips.
San d'Oria: Solo in Ghelsba Outpost... actually, I loved Ghelsba.
Windurst: Dunno, never played a Windurstian past 6.
10-12:
The garbage levels. It's harder to solo and very hard hard to get a group in Valkurm unless you are WHM or BLM.
13-18/20:
Try to find a group in Valkurm. This is where everyone starts grouping so nobody could understand the simple dynamics of what each class was supposed to do. Expect many deaths.
20-25:
Qufim. People are starting to get the hang of grouping, but the Wight and Giant trains are persistent.
25-35:
Have to do the annoying Khazam keys quest. everyone EXPs in Khazam after 25 so you have to do quest. As much as soloing sucks in FFXI, finding a group is much worse. Many times would my Samurai be sitting in Khazam for 2-3 hours trying to get a group.
35-??:
This is where I stopped. Crawler's Nest. Groups are experienced enough to get good EXP. I have heard that the game gets better at this point, but I also heard from a friend (Level 55) that you can still spend 4-5 hours in seek mode.
It is guaranteed that from 13-35 you will be EXPing in those places. And it is also guaranteed that you will spend a lot of time seeking a group unless you are a WHM, BLM, BRD, or BRD.
Honestly, I have good memories of FFXI, but the whole spending hours waiting for groups thing killed the game. In WoW I pretty much soloed the whole time so I never experienced at full group dynamic. But I was able to solo w/ ease. And I had fun doing it.
There were few times in FFXI where I would stop what I was doing and just admire the world I was fighting in. The game used a lot of "worldly" colors... bland colors. WoW is beautiful. Teldrassil and Ashenvale are beautiful places to be in. They use colors that are deeper and easier on the eyes,. Purples, deep greens, deep blues. The color palette or WoW alone is enough to make me play. EQ2 has the same problem as FFXI. Technically their graphics are good, but the world is ugly. I'm sure EQ2 graphics will continue to grow into something deeper, but until then WoW is for me... most likely after as well.