Have been playing WoW recently due to the warband / reception of TWW. It's not 100% better on all fronts, but there are things that were draining me here that are better there. Like feeling each class (job) is actually different. I prefer our job system because localizing it all to one character, especially as Warband hasn't smoothed out quest progression yet, but like... When I switch classes there I feel it, when I switch jobs here, except for specific exceptions*, I couldn't care less. PvP does better at this (actually notice what I am, frequently, and what others are, frequently), but PvP is just a sliver of the game

. * Some exceptions, but uncommon, job gimmicks here are frequently less memorable and sometimes feel like an excuse to have a job gauge more than anything (imo).
I might not word it exactly like tear it all down, but I would want to apply this general vibe to all things. AT LEAST moving forward, in general the game whole game is feeling homogenized (as a quick lazy go to word), and heavily why I took a break. Maybe more politely I would say exceptionally streamlined and
too lean.
There are many things I prefer about FFXIV, many things I might have misremembered from WoW (not as ugly as I thought), but one thing I had believed and posted here quite a bit (roleplay gameplay thread
for example), and had massively reaffirmed after trying WoW, was that FFXIV feels quite a bit emaciated, at least, when it comes to /gameplay/. Visually, musically, story (even if its not doing so great recently), its packed. Gameplay? We're scrapping by when it comes to the R in RPG. R in RPG which isn't like thee E in Balmung RP, it's not all text and visual based, it's the gameplay immersion effect that makes you connect and touch down with what you're doing, and, imo, we're languishing here (have been for some time, but other elements carried it better- slipping here and there + familiarity have made the void more noticeable).
All this little stuff adds up, and FFXIV has very little little stuff. I'm sure this helps them move at a steady pace, maybe gives them peace of mind at the office, but as time goes I definitely feel more and more that they're at the office and not at a game studio. I'm sure, or hope, that as employees they're happy and having fun, but I am more challenged to see that is the case from how the gameplays. WoW is extremely evident to me that they're having fun, like they come to the office with a bunch of wild ideas and then actually do some of them (they haven't mastered the how to not make bugs, and at least recently evidently how to treat their employees.. ;/).
It's not one system, it's a systematic leanness that pervades everything. Besides character things, like items and skills, when we got our Island (which is visually cool) it was mostly an excel experience. While sure maybe WoW does more Abusing you with FOMO, or making bugs, lol, but, BUT, I have no doubt that if they were told to make Island Sanctuary content that it would have been vastly more gamified. Here zone A B and C visually appear different but hardly have a remarkable feature, almost all content from one space to the next could just be shuffled and you'd probably not know that it was (if you had your memory wiped). I was goofing off in a WoW zone and there are unique mechanic content scattered through most of the zones, with unique treasures, and the movement itself varied a bit depending on how you were playing (DH vs Druid vs others, due to the flight system it also takes in consideration the terrain vs just hold W to win).
The one element I would probably take back though is that the boss fights in this game tend to be, imo, more elaborate (and the UI way better to explain what is going on). One might argue good boss fights is an R for RPG, but if you have one A / A+ and 10 C, it still can average downwards (especially if you add time to it, where familiarity can dampen everything). I would also add that I've no doubt someone intelligent and skilled helped construct this leanness, to allow them to have such tight balance through different patterns, but that it's so clean that it bleeds together at this point. Too clean

.
So... I guess tl;dr:
Gameplay feels emaciated, the R and RPG is heavily neglected- specifically when it comes to
gameplay mechanics.