This is pretty vague, but when it comes to texture quality, at least, yeah, FFXIV is typically behind. “Design”? Idk.
WoW has solid models, but with everyone looking the same despite them occasionally adding a handful of extra options.
FFXIV has worse models, but their art style hides it very well, and their expressiveness is 1000% better, which makes up for a lot, and customization still wins, since you can do more than swap some hair and colors and such.
WoW has always won here, tbh. FFXIV zones tend to be VERY flat. The zone that got the most praise in Endwalker was literally some 100% flat platforms with grass and flowers slapped on.
Eh. Very subjective. FFXIV tends to win by default due to actually being 3D though, and I don’t see that changing for DF.