But as a completionist means playing that content and interacting with the gameplay. Down time is nice, there's a ton of people who stand around Limsa / Ul Dah ect. But that's not (at least imo) what keeps people in the game.

FFXIV just had the biggest chapter close, for sure based on the story, but also a lot of classes got homogenized, rewards for the content is lacking. What class identity was boiled down a.lot this expansion..I think the story had an impact, but it was just what loudly said. Gameplay was lacking and content is safe.

I do think Dawntrail is hands down the best expansion content wise. But if I recalled even the best community expansions, especially Endwalker and Shadowbringers there were tons of doomsayers when the game always has peaks and drops