I did play for a bit in HorizonXI and liked it, but couldn't find many players around (which made it even grindier than it should be), which is why I was wondering about retail.

I don't mind the difficulty, that's kinda why I'm tired of FFXIV. Outside of the endgame "high-end" trials/raids, I find its gameplay a bit too easy to the point of being boring. The jobs in XI also look more interesting and varied, instead of FFXIV's that feel too samey.