Endwalker is pretty great

[ForteNightshade]

The two Endwalker ultimates stand as the greatest ones to date
Even if this were literally the only thing I mentioned, it would be enough. If you do any serious raiding at all there's no question about this. Both DSR and TOP managed to successively raise the bar for ultimates. It would've been one thing if they were just difficult fights for difficulty's sake, but they artfully built on their source narratives as well. We got a very intriguing Heavensward AU, as well as further insight into the Omega raid story in light of Endwalker developments.

The ultimates being of this quality have largely contributed to the high end raiding crowd being willing to bite their tongue on stuff they aren't as happy about - 2min homogenization and the like. And that notwithstanding, TOP in particular seems to have been designed with a lot of knowing and cheeky nuances that repudiate the supposed '2min meta' too.

While there is no denying higher end hardcore players ate relatively well this expansion, both Ultimates aren't without their criticisms. TOP, in particular, has largely been divisive even amongst those who cleared it. In fact, a surprising amount of top tier players have voiced absolute hatred towards the fight due to its perceived early slog, very tight DPS checks that heavily favor specific comps and just general burn out from back to back to back high intensity encounters due to Abyssos' imbalances. It should also be noted TOP had two pretty noteworthy bugs that caused no small amount of annoyances.

As for the two minute meta conversation. Your assessment isn't entirely true as certain jobs or comps benefit significantly. Dark Knight, for example, has nearly as many clears as every other tank combined because it feeds so aggressively into both that aforementioned meta and has a one minute burst. Summoner is overwhelmingly superior compared to Black Mage and Red Mage. In fact, it completely outclasses both of them even in aDPS—matching Samurai in that department. The fight favors it to a comical degree. I'd mention Bard but its utter lack of presence is more a design issue with the job itself than anything TOP specific. All in all, the two minute meta has been a factor.

On the whole, I'll acknowledge that while I have my dislikes of TOP, I do consider it an overall good encounter. Dragonsong, meanwhile, is up there with UCoB as my all time favourite.

[*]The portrait system is super fun
I don't know about you guys but I think glamour and g-posing are some of the most important pieces of content this game has. It is the one edge that FFXIV has over its more visceral peers like WoW, and it's important for it to cultivate that edge.

Through the power of a nice looking portrait, its also ushered in an era of DPS players getting comms that were previously monopolized by the tanks and healers.

A fun features, yes. One also absolutely riddled with poor implementation and bugs that have yet to be addressed. More often than not I see people with the default portrait likely due to frustration after the thing brought for the umpteenth time. Conceptionally, I love the addition but it cannot be understated just how horrendously programmed it is. The fact their beta functioned better is genuinely astounding. I'm not going to sing Portraits praise until they're working properly. Nearly a year later and they have not even so much as acknowledged the sheer number of criticisms.

[*]Crystalline Conflict has been a massive improvement over The Feast
On my datacenter, queues for casual matches are consistently <5mins starting from the mid-afternoon to past midnight. This would be an inconceivable level of engagement for The Feast back when it existed. By any metric you can name, the PvP rework has been a success.

I know some Feast vets are glum about its slower, more strategic gameplay being replaced, but let me remind you that Lord of Verminion still exists. The Feast wasn't even the most competitive PvP activity in it's own game. Despite this, its playerbase was pampered with dozens of exclusive mounts and outfits over its lifespan. After a run like that, surely you can find it in yourselves to be gracious about passing the torch to CC.

PvP is evergreen content and infinitely replayable due to the human element involved. It's very important to get right as a result, and I'm glad their efforts paid off this time.

At a surface level, I agree. Crystalline Conflict and the PvP overhaul has been a marked improvement from previous iterations. I'd go so far as to say it's their best attempt yet. Alas, PvP remains absolutely infested with bots and cheaters they do nothing about. It's hard to lobby praise when they still don't have consistent (or any) moderation and seem move concerned over player trash talk than cheating. They have also failed to address the very vocal complaints of players wanting to queue with friends even if only restricted to casual matches.

Frontlines, on the other hand, still needs a lot of work. Between poor spawn locations, badly designed maps and some rather bland gameplay modes, this aspect of PvP has seemingly been forgotten. It's still played, and certainly isn't without its fun. They just need to extend the overhaul across the whole of PvP.

[*]Side Content
Orthos and Island Sanctuary I consider equivalent to the past expansions' equivalents in Bozja and the like. It largely comes down to a matter of taste as to which one strikes your fancy.

It's worth noting that something very interesting is going to be happening on islands next patch - it's getting an outdoor furnishing quota of 80 items. Even large mansions only have a 40 item limit, as a result, outdoor housing builds have never received particularly strong interest from housing enthusiasts. A quota of 80 will enable builds that dwarf in scope anything that has been possible up to this date. For housing designers, this is going to be an earthshaking addition.

This addition is being grossly overhyped. While having outdoor furnishings is a welcomed boon, you're still restricted to their static designs. What housing designers fancy is the freedom to customize their houses in unique and different ways. Island Sanctuary will never allow for this because you, your neighbor and your BF will always have the same overall aesthetic. The Treehouse may be up the hill instead of next to the animal pen but that's about it. No amount of Maple Trees or Beach Chairs will change that. Don't get me wrong, it's still a good addition that people will enjoy but it isn't "earthshaking". That's widely overselling it.

On the whole though, this largely ignores how poorly implemented Island Sanctuary is. I've said my piece on the content multiple times but so I'll be concise. It's incredibly barebones to the point of being a glorified retainer venue with depth on par or weaker than a Facebook mobile game. The fact the dev team supposedly drew inspiration from playing Animal Crossing and came up with this is baffling. Not even the basic features of a farming sim are present such as actually tending to your crops and taking care of your animals. It's point, click, seeya next week.

[*] Endwalker's Story
Not much left to say that hasn't already been said. Endwalker's MSQ put a very neat bow on the story so far, with highs only rivaled by Shadowbringers. WoW tried similarly to frame Shadowlands as the end of an era, and they failed miserably. Destiny 2 is currently trying to do the same, and it's looking like they'll soon follow in WoW's footsteps. It's difficult to overstate what a coup this has been.

Naturally, this will be entirely subjective but the longer I've had a chance to marinate on Endwalker, the weaker I find its overall story. It comes nowhere close to Shadowbringers and, honestly, I'd rank it below Heavensward, personally. There are far too many lulls where the story kind of drags on. Thavnair, in particular, is especially bad for this. Speaking of, the supposed apocalyptic event is more akin to "The Final Days... of Thavnair." Seriously, every single instance of us dealing with the Final Days, Thavnair is getting screwed. Either the Country directly or its refugees. Which made the whole thing feel like a giant afterthought as nowhere else is ever impacted. They tease Sharlayan near the end, where Thavnair refugees have taken shelter for the second time, but nothing ever comes of it. Contrast that to the Flood of Light and it feels entirely underutilized. We then get to Zenos and nearly every scene with him is utterly pointless. He has zero character until the very end and his rather infamous scene in Garlemald amounts to absolutely nothing. It exists purely for shock value. He takes over your body and does... nothing. Worse even, nobody ever mentions it again. You could quite literally cut that scene out and nothing changes. It's completely meaningless.

We then have Ultima Thule where we get this expansion's patented Y'shtola fake out death. Except now the Scions all join her in what is so blatantly obvious it erases any sense of tension that segment of the game has. Y'shtola all but winked at the damn camera telling you "not to bring us back!" For me, personally, Emet and Hythlodaeus save what would have been a very cliche and underwhelming conclusion. I will say, I liked Meteion and Hermes, which certainly helped the ending. I just wish they would stop with the fake out deaths. Either commit or stop doing it.

I could go on but we're getting a little off-topic. Suffice it to say, while Endwalker has several highs like almost all of Elpis and Garlemeld but when it sinks, it craters. Of course, as I said earlier, this is all subjective. What I dislike people may love. So all the more power to those who do. I wish I could feel the same enthusiasm.

On the whole, even with an uptick in higher end content, I would not call Endwalker a "major success". In fact, it's my least favourite expansion they've ever released.