Playing an expansion as current content has been a lacklustre MMO experience

[Shurrikhan]

(I personally enjoyed the old Gathering system)

I honestly enjoyed gathering here and there in 1.x. Once it became "pick X from loot table" in ARR, far less so. /shrug

The absolute worst offense I think XIV has done is compartmentalize every aspect of the game to force playstyles in certain directions instead of embracing the world they've created. They've effectively turned every system into hallways just like our dungeons are now, and they refuse to iterate on systems they create. Their dev cycle is to create, forget, and never discuss.

And that is the part that so irritates me -- most content being either only stalely 'reiterated' upon ("I heard you guys like 2 walls -> boss -> repeat") such that a content format becomes increasingly self-similar, left one-and-done, or just ignores assumes any improvement anywhere in a given model will be taken as a hefty net positive (even if other areas fall notably short), with no real communication with players to try to parse out what parts appealed and what didn't (falling back instead of 'was it played' and typically conflating the results of bribes with intrinsic value).