I'm possibly back too!!! Some may have seen me, Pcken, 72? Bard and 60? Warrior, I really cant remember.
I've played Warcraft 3, mainly DotA if some of you have heard, for a good year or 2, ever since 2004 September, then started playing WoW 2 weeks ago and boy, it made me miss FFXI like never before, I could go on forever how FFXI > WoW. I dont get it, I just feel so much attached to FFXI than WoW, like the OP said, the dunes, kazham, "Garbage Citahell" OH and the Crawler's Nest. Occasionally fishing at Qufim, helping a party for a Raise, being relaxed.... rolling up Gigant Squids were the days.
I've also wondered about the economy, are gil-sellers still as bad as before? I remember buying a Hauby for 2.7mil, SH was around 5 mil ever since the Claw could be dropped from the Op. desert storm. I dont know how i remember this, but it's laid pretty dormant in my mind for a while.
There are also alot of new things I've noticed, such as Chocobo breeding, new jobs, n stuff.
Anyway, I might see some of you guys ingame, I'm more of a casual player n I live in Australia (pretty far from most of you guys =/) since I got work n stuff.