I've played Rift and Starwars since the release of FFXIV. I cancelled my subs to both those games. It's funny, XIV lacks many basic aspects from content to design. But it still has something that neither Rift or SWtor has. Maybe it's the hope for ver 2.0
but what really makes me like XIV over those other games is: character design, animation, and the lore.

one thing that many eastern studios have over western studios is character design and animation. especailly in MMOs.