Quote Originally Posted by Valkret View Post
I can't speak for ESO, but I've played the other two extensively.

Purely form a gameplay perspective I would rank then as such: GW2>WOW>>>>>FFXIV
From a lore and story perspective I would rank them as such: FFXIV>>>>>WOW>GW2

GW2 delivers its story with very little loss of character control. There are some cutscenes here and there, but for the most part each story chapter is heavily focused on gameplay. Lots of exploration, jumping puzzles, battling other enemies and some bosses which are actually quite fun and challenging. And after you are done with a story chapter it usually opens a new area/map which is dynamic, meaning there are events that change the layout of the map and eventually culminate in large map events. Not to mention the zones are full of secrets and fun challenges such as races, jumping puzzles, etc.

Wow is a little more traditional, you go from one zone to the other completing quests, and the story is drip fed to you through these same quests, and standard cutscenes here and there. Other than these cutscenes you basically never lose control of your character. The zones over the years have become more engaging with world quests, treasures and rare mobs to find, but they are not nearly as interactive as GW2.

And FFXIV well you know how it goes. Where FFXIV wins by a country mile, like is not even close, is on story delivery and dungeon/trail/raid encounter design (not mechanics, but design stuff like music and ambience of the encounter.) The world development and character lore in FFXIV is so far ahead of the other two is not even a fair comparison.

Thank you for an insightful comparison.
GW2's strength with zones truly is FFXIV's major weakness, where maps are super static lacking any exploration incentives.