I came from WoW (after leveling every class through Shadowlands), and when I started FFxiv, I was thinking "it's not amazing, but it's better than WoW at this same level." It was still fun to play, and it wasn't a straight slog, the whole story ramped up over time.

And then I hit the first expansion, and it was better than most of WoW except maybe Legion (my favorite expansion). There was a moment, right before a trial, where you're on a bridge and the music ramps up (anyone who has played probably knows what I'm talking about), and I had to just sit and let it wash over me for awhile before queueing up. Just standing on a bridge, hearing a song telling the whole story I had learned over an entire expansion.

And then it just continued ramping up. So it starts out about equivalent to WoW and then gets better at a much faster rate. And then, when you finish the main story quest, instead of the choice of "mythics or raids, that's all you get, hope you like dungeons," You find there's more to do outside of the main story quest than in. There's so much to do.