I actually just started up my WoW account again, to see the changes and do the pre-expansion event stuff. It honestly feels... boring now. I mean, maybe that's just because I'm used to the current content so much (I've played since early vanilla until last year). The game just feels a little too detached for itself. This is actually a feeling that has lingered for a long time, even before I quit. By that, I mean that you really don't feel like the character you've created. It's generally never about you, the player, rather that it's about the world around you. You're merely an expendable/faceless and unidentified tool to drive the plot. Even during gameplay, it really feels like that.

The game is designed for moving your camera out as far as you can, which for most players means that your character (and majority of NPCs) is quite small to the terrain. It just adds to the thought that you feel insignificant (overly dramatic word to use here, but still fitting). This is something that all MMORPGs tend to encourage, which is fine, but it can have a negative implication depending on what else is going on.

With FFXIV, you're always the center of attention. You are part of the game world. Due to the class/job system, you become associated with your character you create and so results an attachment. Still, it's quite possible that I've just hit the mindset that I've retired my characters on WoW, and so playing as them just doesn't feel the same.