yeah you are right that other games often come with their own micros and dlc’s, and the years without a new xpac (every other year) will be slightly less costly
but wow isn’t the best return for your dollar unless you love every part of the game so you can grind endlessly
at certain points in wow’s history I bought tons of other games and never played them, I just kept going to wow. But for the last 3 xpacs wow is basically something I only do when I’m bored of everything else. Too much of wow is forced boredom nowadays. A forced inflexible path that punishes you for not following it.
So I guess it might be fairer to say that wow can be an amazing investment for players that love most everything in the game and never feel the brunt of boredom or tedium while playing. But the wow value prop is not so amazing for most players, the bulk of which that quit within 1-4 months after launch.
Also it is balance for how much you value your free time. For me it is precious and scarce. For others it is the biggest resource they have and they have plenty of it. This factors into the value prop.