What's the point with that quite lackluster story in Endwalker?

[Melorie]

I like ARR because of everything other than the key plot points. Though I like the politics drama that happen in 2.1~2.55, even if the payoff for one of them was terrible in 3.0.

I also feel like the filler from ARR has a ton of interesting storytelling, although it does suffer from the quest design. The whole politics drama is actually fairly interesting, but they erase most of the consequences of everything as always. Which is also a point that gets me with FFXIV lore: a lot of things happen, all those giant things... and there's little consequence for any of them. I'm not even saying "hahaaaa kill characters!" but any feeling of despair, fear or any kind of dreadness are... cheap, simply put. It is really hard to actually feel threatened in the story, especially a story with so many baits to the point that you can see them coming miles away. I'm not even against the trope "friendship wins everything!", but at this point it is, well, tiring.