More Content, Less Narrative

[Jeeqbit]

That's why even side stories are now becoming trash, Nier raid story sucks, Asphodelos raid story sucks. Eden story was so bland and sparse that some floors had like maybe 10 seconds of dialogue before you unlocked it. Bozja was the only side content that had a decent story last expansion that was fleshed out, meaty, and engaging. But then they decided not to continue with it this expansion ROFL.

Not to mention there's basically no story for Ishgardian Restoration

Nier was a good story, it just didn't fit well with FFXIV lore and it was intentionally weird so that only Nier fans were likely to connect with it and the end ruined it by giving you a chore to do every week. Asphodelos remains to be seen but I am interested to see what comes next. I thought that Eden's was great. The Firmament has lots of story because it unlocks loads and loads of sidequest chains that continue previous sidequests you did in the past, where people you previously met are now being homed. There are also the stories of Charlemend and Ehll Tou.

[Skiros]

Nier was a good story, it just didn't fit well with FFXIV lore and it was intentionally weird so that only Nier fans were likely to connect with it and the end ruined it by giving you a chore to do every week. Asphodelos remains to be seen but I am interested to see what comes next. I thought that Eden's was great. The Firmament has lots of story because it unlocks loads and loads of sidequest chains that continue previous sidequests you did in the past, where people you previously met are now being homed. There are also the stories of Charlemend and Ehll Tou.

You lost me at "Nier was a good story". It was bad even if you played Drakengard and Nier. I guess the subpar worldbuilding and story quality doesn't matter since fans will just lap it up like dogs anyways.