Which expansion did they get right, and why?

[Lunaxia]

I can see what you mean. I think the parts where we were hanging out with Alohinaud, Estinien and Ysale were great. I think ShB's characters' "chill"ness in part does stem from the Exarch being there for like 100 years doing damage control. I also just remembered how much I hated Werlyt so I think I'm gonna say that 5.0 is great but the trial series sucks. Sadly, the waifufication of G'raha Tia in the period past 5.3 didn't help. But I felt that way about all characters that have obvious crushes on the WoL...

To this day I don't think we've had a party I've enjoyed half as much as Ysayle and Estinien, lol. And it's also where a lot of the Scion fatigue comes from - it's very hard to be enthused about character dynamics that boil down to polite academic debates over tea and dinner parties. I miss when characters used to clash and fight and bicker, you know?

I think as well the Crystarium was also meant to be a message about the good in humanity and our finding hope in the darkness etc. etc. (especially as a counterweight to Eulmore's self-indulgence), which is fair enough, it just... fell kind of flat. And even amongst Eulmore's citizenry, there wasn't much conflict either before or after we ousted their leadership, and it's the lack of depth to the characters that just don't give it quite the same weight or intrigue HW had, even though other parts of the storyline were really good. I did like Lyna, though.

Werlyt was dreadful. To the point I just pretend it didn't exist, lol.

Hmm, I started playing through ARR during post-Endwalker, and did HW/STB/SHB during current Dawntrail, so I can't exactly speak on how all of them were back at launch from the perspective of them being "new and exciting" with regards to their changes and additions...

...wow, that's an unpopular opinion if ever I saw one! DG and SoS at the bottom of the list is certainly a first. Were there any story beats or characters you did find yourself connecting with/ enjoying? Seeing that you like tribes and sidequests does match with you placing ARR second though, lol. I guess you're a fan of worldbuilding?

[Kaurhz]

Uhhh...

On release I am inclined to say that Stormblood was the best. It felt rewarding to do whatever it was that you wanted to do.

I liked HW also, it required effort, it too felt rewarding, e.g., crafting first set of Ironworks gear. Neo Aetherstones bred an absurd amount of life into doing Coils unsync... But granted, some of it was because some systems were a little clunky,

Shadowbringers, Endwalker and Dawntrail have all felt like expansions where they've just been giving tokenisms to players for things they ripped away from said players... Rewarding manual crafts, and a reason to actually learn the crafting system? Expert recipes, and even then, they don't feel core, and nor do they hold a candle to systems like WWYW.

[Khryseis_Astra]

It's Shadowbringers though. HW ages really poorly when you play it on an alt, unlike ShB, which remains engaging until you're dealing with the damn train. Fuck that train. ShB's strong point really, really isn't just its ending. It's its inherent narrative consistency because it contains good usage of all the plot threads Ishikawa started at some point, lol.

While I enjoyed HW, and it was my favorite until I got to ShB, I agree with your opinion on ShB… it really felt like everything was coming together, all those threads being woven into one tapestry. And it’s even more amazing when you realize they didn’t even plan out every detail in advance! They just made things fit!

It’s also why I enjoyed EW, even though it gets a lot of negative feedback… to me, EW was just ShB part 2, and tied up the story arc in a way I found very satisfying.

I don’t hate DT… but it’s not really thrilling me. I find a lot of the side stories stronger than the MSQ, although I feel it’s improving. We just really need to set up the next big arc, to get a sense that things are going somewhere. I get that maybe they felt ShB/EW was really “dark” or “heavy,” and they were trying for a more lighthearted expansion. But I want the story to get back to that level of emotionally powerful again. I want the story to punch me in the gut and make me cry. lol DT, especially towards the end and the patches, actually touches on exploring some deeper themes (what constitutes life, AI and the benefits/harm of technology, etc.), but not with the depth and emotional power of ShB/EW.

[Rithy255]

Story wise? Likely shadowbringers. Personal preference though, I also liked HW and parts of EW.

Gameplay wise? I'd say also shadowbringers but they made a lot of the trends that plauge the game to this day, Ideally we'd find ourselfs between something like Stormblood and Shadowbringers, but having its own interesting unique direction that isn't the same old bland game design we've been getting for a good while now.

[Daralii]

I've found the opposite, I've replayed Heavensward multiple times and always find myself enjoying it, whereas I expected to like ShB but found subsequent playthroughs kind of tedious. I feel like HW's character and scenario writing is a lot stronger which is what makes it fun to go back through, while ShB has insane atmosphere and mood setting but is a step behind in that regard, so it loses some of the impact after playing it for the first time. The sin eaters storyline really was great, but the characters themselves just feel a little bland outside of Emet and Vauthry. Especially considering they're living in a world that's nigh-apocalyptic, everyone just feels remarkably well-adjusted (?) and I miss the personal conflicts that drove the story in the game's earlier years.

The mindset of the locals makes sense when you consider that some viis would be the only ones that had ever known a different state of affairs. The apocalypse drawing closer and being completely inescapable had been a fact for several generations.

[Alicie]

Shadowbringers offers solid, dedicated story with exactly defined goals taking place in a specific, well detailed region. Though there is plenty of slog and filler, it is overall better than other expansions.

[Jaltaer]

Stormblood feels like the last expansion where they bothered doing creative things with instance and fight design (like the minigame phases in the Four Lords trials, or things like St Mocianne's Hard dungeon having extra/optional mechanics like rinsing off mobs, or that one mob that can transform other enemies if you get them in its AOE cast). It's also where we got Eureka, the Ivalice raids, and in general a pretty wide host of interesting and creative content.

Shadowbringers... narrative wise, they got it "too" right I think, to the point each expansion we've gotten after it has just been rehashing the core concept of ShB and trying to recapture the lightning in a bottle it was. Felt like EW was rushed and unsatisfying? Not a fan of how DT turned into "oops yet another apocalyptic event involving yet another shard and also our 3rd final dungeon with the villain narrating us through a flashback"? You can thank Shadowbringers for that!

[Aidorouge]

...wow, that's an unpopular opinion if ever I saw one! DG and SoS at the bottom of the list is certainly a first. Were there any story beats or characters you did find yourself connecting with/ enjoying? Seeing that you like tribes and sidequests does match with you placing ARR second though, lol. I guess you're a fan of worldbuilding?

Worldbuilding and also I enjoy being more of a "street level" hero helping the small folk directly while getting to SEE the changes in the world/NPCs rather than one that's dealing with a world ending threat every other boss fight where you don't really notice an impact other than someone maybe saying "hey, remember when you did the thing? Do you want to fight a harder version now?"

Just gonna spoiler this because there's a lot of MSQ yapping about Stormblood/Shadowbringers in here...

Like, I legitimately got more joy in helping those folks in the Lochs getting their salt mining up and running again or seeing the changes with the refugees in Ul'dah (which was my starting city as I chose Gladiator to begin with) then I did fighting Shinryu at the top of some "heavenly battlefield" because if you've fought one big damn dragon, you've fought them all, and by this point in the story I've murked Bahamut and Nidhogg who had substantial lore behind them, while Shinryu was "surprise final boss with no attachment" levels of *sigh* lets get this over with...

Zenos' general lameness further diminished whatever impact it was supposed to have, as well as making my victory outright confusing because this guy has been one-shotting me throughout the expansion but now I can suddenly take him on after he gets a huge power-up? Felt like I was playing a shounen anime complete with protagonist BS, which is saying a LOT considering ARR and HW had us getting helped by Hydaelyn.

Hell, my favorite section of Stormblood was the Naadam, because it was nice having this big old fight where I'm just a PIECE of the victory conditions but still needed everyone else to make it happen, and Magnai and Sadu were WAY better "rivals" than Zenos could ever hope to be. I'm not the biggest fan of Magnai overall admittedly, but still some respect there... even if I did laugh out loud at "Little Sun" later on. I also just generally liked the whole section about getting groups together to team-up to take back Doma and Ala Mhigo, because again, it's more personal and "shoulder to shoulder" with the world than being just the Eikon-slayer and "the only one who can do the thing" whatever that thing might be.

As for things I DID enjoy story-wise in Shadowbringers such things included:

Dealing with the Light Warden threats and returning the night sky, because again, I can SEE my actions are making a literal difference and bettering NPC lives. Eulmore was especially memorable because these were people that had to actually face their own follies and roll their sleeves up to make that better world happen beyond just what I contributed. (And I found the Chais precious personally.)

Seeing how competent and capable the Scions could be WITHOUT the Warrior of Light around. They may have needed me to save the First, but they were doing a fine job keeping hope alive for my arrival to matter, and some of them had been doing it for YEARS.

Il Mheg in general was one of my favorite zones in SHB if not the entire game, and I need to find out how much of those cookie and candy items in Lyhe Mheg are actual furnishing.

I'm sure some people find it an eyesore, but this stuff makes me giddy instead.
AND I NEED THE FEO UL MINION SO BADLY IT HURTS.

I was initially unsure about the whole "oh, Ardbert and his crew were actually good guys and didn't REALLY want to destroy you and the Source to save the First" thing, but they grew on me, especially after doing the Role Quests and seeing more of their lives beyond even just being crystal-bearers, and was happy to see them regain their heroism in the eyes of others who deemed them villains.

I enjoyed the Rak'tika Greatwood section of the game as well because I'm admittedly just as interested in lore scraps/in-game cultures as Y'shotla is, I had been waiting to see more Viera being involved in the plot beyond just Lyna, and who doesn't love LAHEE and SCREE?

I think the only zone and its attached story that was genuinely weak was the Tempest, partially because its the only zone I didn't really "save" (rather we ironically made things more difficult with the big old air pocket) and while the initial premise of sundered worlds and souls is interesting and unfortunate, it was hard to become outright attached to the Ancients (much less sympathetic of Emet and Elidibus) when the only fix would be continued mass genocides of more worlds and the following Calamities, or how the time period of this event takes place even beyond the ruins of lore that dot the Source and First, while also having little to see or explore of it compared to say, the Flood of Light and War of the Magi. There's a dialogue I remember having with Alisaie about Alphinaud where you can say something along the lines of "he's learned to talk with people instead of at them" and that's how I feel about the Ancients. I'm being lectured about why I should care, feel bad, and want to die for them and all of this is being done by pompous and selfish psychopaths. It doesn't really leave a positive impact.

I also can't say I'm the biggest fan of Hydaelyn being a primal or the implications that I might have been this "Azem" because not only does it call into question my motive for even wanting to help people (am I just a really nice tempered?), but my possible origins in general because apparently I was also one of these Ancients and I'm just a uniquely sundered soul rather than "same as everyone else" like I assumed.

And honestly, listening to Ancients talk was starting to hurt my ears...

Post-Shadowbringers being almost entirely about more Ascian scheming when I thought everything was done and dusted and I could FINALLY return home wasn't fun, or how I got stuck with the First being in a Starshower for WEEKS because I couldn't find enough people to attempt Seat of Sacrifice (even unsync) because 8 people is MANDATORY with one of them being a tank and healer due to mechanics. Hell, it took almost as long to do Dying Gasp, and in the case of both trials I spent the majority of my time dead on the floor because neither Hall of the Novice or previous fights prepared me for most of the things being thrown at me.

It really deflated a lot of the spectacle of taking down the remaining Unsundered when the fights were delayed for longer than it took to reach them, the battles themselves were annoying when finally attempted, and it's really hard to take it seriously that I "totally beat those guys" when I didn't contribute much to the actual outcome. (Also Time Maneuver Events are the devil, and one of them was legitimately hurting my hand.)

Oh, uh, right. I guess there was the stuff with Gaius and the Weapons too. Full-stop I'm not a fan of any questline that tries to make me feel sympathetic or want to pal around with Imperials beyond Cid and Maxima, especially when I don't feel like Nero or Gaius have done enough to redeem themselves for me to be giving them approving cutscene nods, or how its really REALLY hard to care about Imperial citizens getting caught up in wars of succession or experiments when there's about a 99% chance those same citizens didn't care about what was happening to the "savages" of Eorzea and beyond. Also really hard to convince me of "nuance" among Imperials when Valens was so over-the-top ridiculous, like the writers were so desperate to convince me that Gaius "wasn't so bad after all" that they needed to create an outright caricature of the kind of Imperial an Eorzean might describe (including the really uncomfortable sexual predator element).

I will say there was something strangely satisfying about making Gaius watch as I kill his "children" and he couldn't do anything about it because he had helped to create the conditions that lead them to their decisions, and how he had to watch as "Eorzean might and technology" rolled them the same way we had to watch Garlean might and technology put us on the backfoot for so long. I still wouldn't say he's fully redeemed, but at least we have an understanding of why is grandiose speech on that elevator is so boomer cringe now, lol.

[Absurdity]

Stormblood feels like the last expansion where they bothered doing creative things with instance and fight design (like the minigame phases in the Four Lords trials, or things like St Mocianne's Hard dungeon having extra/optional mechanics like rinsing off mobs, or that one mob that can transform other enemies if you get them in its AOE cast). It's also where we got Eureka, the Ivalice raids, and in general a pretty wide host of interesting and creative content.

Shadowbringers... narrative wise, they got it "too" right I think, to the point each expansion we've gotten after it has just been rehashing the core concept of ShB and trying to recapture the lightning in a bottle it was. Felt like EW was rushed and unsatisfying? Not a fan of how DT turned into "oops yet another apocalyptic event involving yet another shard and also our 3rd final dungeon with the villain narrating us through a flashback"? You can thank Shadowbringers for that!

Pretty much this.
People always gush about Shadowbringer's story but I consider it patient zero for the rot that has settled in this game.
As you said it is the reason for every MSQ following a similar template, but it's also the start of the incredibly stagnant job and fight design.

Funnily enough when people say "Stormblood story bad" they always tend to ignore the patch story from 4.2 onward. Building up Garlemald as more than just vague bad guy empire and giving us a glimpse of the political intrigue and factions within it...which was then completely sidelined in ShB and thoroughly destroyed by Endwalker, along with any remaining old story threads.

[ServerCollaps]

wuk lamat aside, dawntrail ist the best for me
90% of each expansion is copy/paste anyway, but 7.0 has the best dungeons and fights imo. The maps are also pretty. The moonbase stuff is much better than the island or diadem aswell. Chaotic and quantum are also nice steps that they took