They are different enough that one is not strictly better than the other.
FF XIV and WoW are both MMORPGs.
WoW puts the emphasis on MMO.
FF XIV puts the emphasis on RPG.
Which game is better is going to come down to each individual person. I’m leaning towards FF XIV more and more but if someone else does like WoW better, then good for them.
But I will say one other thing. The WoW forums are much more interesting.
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One key component I’d like to mention is FF can be easy to enjoy with a controller, especially while going through the story mode, which give the game a very friendly couch experience to lay back and doing “chill” gaming.
With WoW, that type of laid back gameplay is not as accessible, which is something I’d enjoy, especially if I’m just doing something as mindless as fishing.
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I like ff14 but the main story quests gating everything always makes me quit eventually
I used to love wow for minimal questing but of course the current team has triple downed on questing so wow is even worse
The changes in wow are so dramatic over the last 4 xpacs
It doesn’t remotely own the same broad appeal niche that it used to utterly dominate
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It’s my main MMO, honestly. As for if it’s better, well, I can’t really answer that. Taste is subjective. It certainly does more for casuals and people who don’t want to beat things up than WoW, and it’s a lot easier to collect things like appearances and mounts normally. I prefer the raids and dungeons there, but they are smaller than WoW, and very different in feel. The story is amazing and in depth. The devs take the time to set everything up, and show both the big cool moments, and the little softer ones.
Honestly, I would say try it for yourself. There’s no shame in trying, and playing, multiple MMOs. 
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its free to try out. keep in mind you HAVE to play through hundreds of hours of story quests. you can skip cutscenes but it still takes a very long time to go through.
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The funny part is WoW as more RPG elements if you consider the amount of preparation you need to do for a raid or mythic plus.
The way FF does RPG is more story telling RPG.
The MSQ is impossible to not pick up, it’s there automatically if you haven’t completed the game. Even if a new player gets overwhelmed, which could happen for sure, it’s very easy to explain to them what MSQ is and get them back on track quickly.
All the side quests are for story, dances, unlocks ect. All that is the fun stuff and part of the adventure!
Yeah no shame with skipping either. As “new game +” and the “unending journey” from the inn’s room can allow a player to relive those skipped moments if they have no interest into them.
It’s different. You may like or not. Only way to know is to give it a shot.
And again, the lead developer actively tells people that they are welcome to unsubscribe when they’ve run out of things to do that they’re personally interested in, encouraging them to jump back in when they add something else that catches their eye.
Somehow, I can’t see a modern Blizzard developer espousing anything close to that.
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I did hear him mention this on a live letter once (Well what the translator girl said anyways.)
I don’t think its a good thing to announce “We lack content so take a break.” but I can see how it gives a break to the busiest players. I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing, but not a good thing also in a sense.
Blizzard just need to cut out on FOMO madness and that would make WoW 80% better.
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I really hated it until HW, so YMMV.
I’m not a big fan of the combat or a lot of the character, but it’s a good game.
Better in some ways, worse than others. Ask me anything.
For me, it spoke to their philosophy. WoW wants its playerbase to engage in every system they develop and design them deliberately to retain you. Whereas FFXIV has a lot of smaller, niche content that isn’t necessarily going to appeal to every single player, and they’re fine with that - they’re not going to manipulate you into engaging with those systems if they’re not appealing.
FFXIV has their issues, but that core philosophy is really the draw for me right now. I play both, but it’s just so refreshing to have a developer that isn’t overtly treating their playerbase as antagonists at worst, commodities at best.
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While that is true, I have to counter point that if you miss on a relic such as Bozja / Eureka, and wishes to do it for the sake of doing it later, you pretty much handicap yourself and make it a lot harder / longer to do it.
Bozja especially as it’s the main leveling hub for alt jobs from 71 to 90. If someone doesn’t have the last zone unlocked, they miss out a lot and delay their experience significantly.
So yes the developers say to just move on and come back, but the playerbase move on constantly and leave desert behind itself. While WoW retro content is easy to tackle in WoW for whatever reason a player might have.
A fair point, but a relatively minor one. Like I said, FFXIV has its problems. But they’re mostly mechanical rather than philosophical. Whereas WoW’s mechanical side is generally fantastic, but it gets muddled in the philosophy that implements it.
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Final Fantasy is better as a single player game that you sometimes play with other players. It lacks staying power though, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
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has a free trial I think.
just try it and figure it out for yourself.
Define “staying power,” though. Because if it aligns with WoW’s version, I don’t want it. 
Like you said, there are benefits here. Sometimes it’s nice to be “done” with the loot treadmill and farm some old transmog or level some alts or just plain old spend time helping people out to no personal benefit. It’s nice not having that nagging FOMO-by-design telling you there are dailies to do and vault slots to unlock.