So I hop on to FFXIV today, run circles on my L60 AST for several minutes and at last come to the conclusion that I'm already burning out.
Much like WoW, a couple of months into the new expansion, I'm tired of it all; though to be fair WoW isn't nearly as tedious and actually tries to innovate/add things to the game in order to keep it somewhat interesting. That said, the end result is mostly the same anyway.
...Why am I losing my steam?
Simple, I'm getting sick of feeling like I am paying fifteen bucks just to do what I do in real-life. That is work my ass off. Except a real job provides me money that in turn provides fun. You know what these MMOs provide me? More work and headache. You continue turning that hamster wheel at mach speeds or fall behind because lord knows it's all about that carrot and that carrot is another carrot dangling on yet another stick. Fun.
What am I saying?
Again, simple. Where is the fun? Where is the payout? I have virtually no reason to socialize with anyone outside of getting through content, that more often than not, is a bore for me. It's not hard. The only reason its hard is because people are bad. So few elements of my efforts carry over with given updates as well. The one thing I wanted in both games, a proper housing feature, are either horribly implemented(Garrisons) or obscenely costly(not to mention still fleeting in WoW's case) making it somehow an even more of a distant goal(talking about FFXIV here) than clearing encounters on their highest difficulties.
Where is the RPG element? Where is that living, breathing world that you make your mark in?
All I'm seeing today is glorified single-player experiences cashing in on the MMO brand because they can milk you for more money while actually delivering weaker, more anemic content design to literally keep you working for a never ceasing carrot. Forget finding your own path or gleaning joy from a virtual world by feeling like you're truly a part of it.
Want to know why Vanilla WoW was so fun?
It had just enough of that random element without the strict carrot design(most people didn't even raid nor bother with it) to create interesting and memorable moments that were not inherently built into the game. You as a player had some potential to generate your own sphere of influence; therefore, you had a sense of existence within that reality. ...Now you hop on, do your queue/dailies, hop off. That's what MMOs are amounting to. Soulless, pointless products in their entirety. Little more than fancy Facebook games.
I think at this juncture, I'd often rather work overtime or a second job and get something for it. Not digital gear that'll be trashed a patch later.