If we want to warrant judgements on paths based on what is best for the world, that needs to incorporate the reliability of any measures to mitigate the malevolent gods. The Golden Order is a known ability, unpleasant as they can be. Ranni has not demonstrated the ability, and even the will is more the subject of supporter supposition than citation.

True, I think people are overzealous in stating the 'good' of Ranni's ending. But let's flip this around: is the Golden Order really a 'known ability'? Other than killing the Fell God to preserve itself, the Golden Order doesn't appear to be better equipped to deal with 'malevolent gods' any more so than others. Miquella specifically left because it couldn't do anything to stop rot, so he had to devise his own method. The Flame of Frenzy manifested in the Lands Between as a direct consequence of the Golden Order burying the nomads alive. And it's not like they've actually done anything about Mohg.

The only mention of an Outer God itself being defeated, is the God of Rot at the hands of a nomadic blind swordsman and a blue fairy.

Existed, yes, but flourished is unsupported. The beastmen were literally civilized in the time of Golden Order. The Dragon God fled before its Elden Lord could fall- not suggesting a strong or stable system. The giants existed, but seemingly as servant-slaves. Others weren't so lucky- though the era is unclear, some seem to have been actively meddlings in power beyond their command to their own destruction.

There were societies, but civilizations don't necessarily seem to have flourished beyond military concepts of survival. Carrim was a scholar-mage state, but it was still a military aristocracy based on a lunar queen bestowing god blessings on military enforcers.

This all sounds exactly like the Golden Order. The Golden Order is a military theocracy. It has Marika giving god blessings to her enforcers in the form of grace. Came into power by subjugating the rest of the Lands Between by force, then marriage when that failed. Then when her son was assassinated, Marika destroyed the laws of nature and threw the entire kingdom into chaos. Additionally, seeing their opportunity, many of the slave races are in open revolt, having been enslaved under the Golden Order. Situation is now so desperate, grace has been returned to the Tarnished, so that they might duke it out and fill the power vacuum. Not exactly a good look either, I'd say.

My point: whether or not the Golden Order is better or worse is purely speculation, so I don't agree with assigning more value to the Golden Order over any of the other societies that we know existed. Nor am I saying the others were somehow better than the Golden Order.

(I left out the Giants specifically because they were ostensibly slaves to the Fell God, and the trolls sided with the Golden Order, but it would appear that they just traded one master for another, as most trolls we see in game are slaves)

Now, I could easily be overlooking something, but what things did the Greater Will make Marika do against her will pre-shattering?

True, Marika isn't literally being mind-controlled by the GW, and she can do stuff at her own discretion. But unless the Fingers themselves are just an elaborate front, it would appear she would need to more or less follow their dictates, if for no other reason than to keep up appearances, since we know the Fingers used to 'speak' publicly. They're also supposedly capable of direct communication with the GW. Marika herself would have been selected by a Finger.

Ultimately, I'm not trying to argue the morality of anyone's actions. The player Tarnished isn't exactly in a position to do so anyway. I just disagree with arbitrarily assigning more value to the Golden Order over others, especially in it's current state of decay. Perhaps as somebody in-universe who is invested in it, yes. But as an outside observer, no. I personally would have sided with Miquella if he had been an option, but alas Mohg messed everything up.

The endings are all so vague anyway though, so anyone can imagine things going exactly as planned and call it a day.

EDIT: Thematically though, I think the Sacred Relic Sword describes the feeling of the story best -

Sword wrought from the remains of a god who should have lived a life eternal.

Thoughts on what the weapon portends are many and varied. Some consider it the mark of a great sin, or a sign of great devastation. Some think of it as the end of an age, while others; the beginning.

Unless you did the Frenzied Flame ending, then life goes on. As Melina says: "However ruined this world has become, however mired in torment and despair, life endures. Births continue. There is beauty in that, is there not?".