Content and UI mostly.

He is a big fan of FFVII where you could explore the entire world and talk to every NPC. And if there is one thing we can expect from SE is the depth of the story. Heck, even FFXII had tons of little stories for npcs and quests! I had reservations about the main plot in XII but the depth and detail they went into each little NPC and hunt was amazing.

So I guess he went in expecting FFVII or at least Crisis Core and got... a blank world ...

On early WoW beta the goblins and worgen walked around with little magic cubes on their heads, named "placeholder" since the helmet models weren't done. Infamously a druid skill was temporarily named "NOM NOM NOM" till they found a proper name, and some bosses dialog to start a battle still had "placeholder" till very recently. But we are now a month from launch and all content is there.

My friend was shocked at the lack of content of FFXIV and how hard and weird the UI was. And trust me, he really wanted to love FFXIV. He is tired of WoW and really wants a FF like MMO, deep in story, gorgeous graphics, awesome music, relaxed "explore world" non linear gameplay.... But what he found was worse than alpha, let alone retail quality.