As Revan beat me to it, FFXIV ARR is very good - arguably it's helping restore the series's tattered image as being a fun game that gets back to it's roots. In some respects, FFXIV ARR is much like FFIX in that it's full of references and fond homages to every FF game that came before it, while still retaining it's own identity. It's far more casually orientated than FFXI is though - although you can still party with others (and in fact, have to in order to do dungeons and boss fights), you're not required to spend every waking moment of your life playing just to get anywhere. Endgame activities like the Binding Coil of Bahamut are definitely meant for 'hardcore' players though, but even that doesn't require a constant amount of playtime - it's up to you how much you put in that you get back from it. :)
As for PvE and PvP, it's primarily a PvE focused game, although there are two PvP events currently available - the Wolves' Den which is a 8x8 arena fight, and Frontlines, which is a massive 18x18x18 three team battlefield based around Grand Company allegiance. I haven't done either of them as PvP doesn't really interest me - either way, there is no open world PvP in FFXIV, PvP is separately handled from the main game and only takes place in a specially designated instance, so no one on one duels thank Azeyma.
Really though Nostalgia, the best way to find out if you like the game or not is to give it a try yourself! There's a free trial version available that allows you to play for 14 days free of charge which is definitely enough to get a good taste of the game - it can be found here for download (
http://www.ffxiv-freetrial.com/en/) (for PC only).