Anyone who has been enjoying FFXII tremendously and looking for another game that has similar battle systems should give FFXI a try for various reasons:
1) Each job is specialized with you learning job abilities and stats as you level up instead of job boards. Best part is it's not permanent, you can always switch jobs until you find your favorite one.
2) It uses auto-attacks as well, and you use macros instead of gambits to execute commands, and the difference comes here- you buy or do quests to earn "trusts" which are NPC's that join your party with their own set of "gambits" that you can't adjust. That means you want to look for a healer trust that will heal status effects off you while it does cures but there are others that do group cures or even raises other players in your party. A famous NPC like Shanotto can even be a trust for instance and fills your party up instead of looking to group with other players. This new feature made FFXI a single player MMO for like 90% of the content, and the content is huge.
3) Even though it is a MMO, and can do most of the content by yourself, it comes with a monthly subscription cost. I suggest trying it out with a free trial which allows you to go lv50 without paying for it so you can check if the game holds your interest at that point to decide.
4) While it's not Ivalice, the story is super fantastic if you only play the game for that aspect, the lore runs deep and very friendly for newcomers, but you will need to max out your level (Lv99) to accomplish the ending that sums up all expansions to that point.
The game was released in 2003-2004 so the graphics are stale (especially when compared to FFXIV) but it feels very similar to FFXII in many ways, especially the hunts and rare monsters. If you're curious and have been thinking to jump in and check off FFXI's story from your FF list.
Not trying to market here or anything, just saying there's another game out there that's relatable to this game for those that just picked up on it and want more of it.