heavensward was rightfully lavished with plenty of praise for its writing well before shadowbringers was out, but i agree with theia in that a realm reborn only really holds appeal for enjoyers of mmorpg early game. anyhow, it was strides better than 1.0, but they were still finding their feet and i would say only really took off running with the final quests of the arr storyline (literally the event you play through before the credits roll). in some ways, i feel like heavensward is actually where ffxiv peaked (at least for me), even if shadowbringers may actually be a bit better. (i can't comment on further expansions because by the end of shadowbringers i was just done with the content treadmill going through the same motions over and over again... but that was after over 3 thousand hours logged. i'd like to catch up with it eventually.) going by what you evidently like, i want to say that sticking with it will be worth it to you. but i also have not played dragon quest x and i'm jealous...! and i can't say whether having that perspective would have changed my feelings about ffxiv if i'd come to it as you are. perhaps some time i'll finally be able to play dqx and realize i never would have made it through arr, either, if dqx had been available to me.