I haven’t tried FFXIV but everything I’ve seen it looks lame, like linear story you’re forced through, and the silly “sprout” plant icon that grows over players heads lmao.
GW2 is very weak, while it’s well optimized it’s rudderless, without any direction. The quests are inconsistent with rewards, most rewards are incredibly weak and barely contribute anything to progress, many are akin to repeatable “dailies” but you can repeat them immediately a bunch of times. It’s also very P2W, using gimmicks like very small inventory space to compel players to pay more money. While it has a nice graphic style, good epic looks, it feels very illusionary, barely-there, like everything is made out of paper. Something with the graphics makes objects, npcs and all feel like they aren’t solid or have no volume, probably all the clipping and lack of collision and visible seams, doesn’t help.
GW2 also tends to be confusing and restrictive. I saw players lower level than me on mounts. Where do I get that? You have to look everything up and it still doesn’t make sense. In WoW, if you reach a riding level it tells you and you get a quest to the NPC. Even before that, it was simple, each race had their own capital city and you could find where the NPCs were. Oh look the trainer. Oh look the vendor. Right next to griffons or nightsabers. Easy.
Whereas WoW, has much better overall structure, far more generous to the players, and more importantly, has incredible personality. While it has changed much over the years, the gameplay is solid and consistent. There’s always fun to be had here in WoW. If I’m ever indecisive on what to play or not sure, I just play WoW. There’s lots to do, it’s easy to jump into, and reliable home for gamers. If I’m not gearing up my mains, I might be leveling up alts, or opting to focus on leveling up profession, or focus on grinding for this/that to get transmog, mount, or whatever.
I think some of those other MMOs in their desire to be better than WoW, tried to be different, but overdid it and it’s off-putting. WoW is welcoming, it rolls out the carpet for the player, whereas these others feel hurried, uninspired, too cheap to roll out the carpet, and preferring just to phone in it. They oft tend to have incredible jank that never gets fixed. Won’t name names but in comparison, Blizzard always make sure everything is done well in WoW and presented with polish and evokes not just a sense, but provides a clear perception of “quality”. That’s very appreciated and welcoming.
there is no “campaign”. There’s the story quests, and then there’s the open world and side content. The story starts pretty damned early in Chapter 2 when you start with train robberies and getting Micah out of prison.