That's the major draw of an RPG for most people

Evidence suggests otherwise. Look at how popular all the things that don't (necessarily) do that are. Housing, Triple Triad, Mahjong, Gold Saucer events, gathering, crafting, and now also Blue Mage. I get that it's the major draw for you, but you and your circle of friends are not a large enough sample size to draw conclusions about everyone playing MMORPG's.

Stop acting like you somehow possess the ultimate objective truth on this matter, because clearly you don't. You draw from your own experiences and exrapolate them to literally millions of people, and then you have the gall to act as if people who suggest their experience is different are just delusional.

BfA has gotten a lot of criticism over legitimate bad design flaws, and FFXIV would 100% also get a lot of flack if they made legitimately bad designs. Case in point, look at Pagos. Additionally, from having frequented the /r/wow subreddit a lot, do you know what I keep seeing that people are unanimously in favor of? A god damn mobile app for pet battles. There's nothing about pet battles that makes you hit harder or look better, yet still a lot of people want them to be expanded and get more support. Almost as if people want more from an MMO than just combat and outfits.