WOW was my MMO of choice before FFXIV, and I played them side by side until the huge WOW exodus around 2021. Since then, I've completely switched to FFXIV and have never looked back. I started playing around the end of Shadowbringers, and since then FFXIV has become the game for me. The only thing that'll keep me from playing it is if the servers shut down, and even then I'll probably scour the net for a private server. Early on, I took really long breaks and avoided the main story when a dungeon was stalling my progress. Mainly because the necessity of queuing with other players pushed my (way worse at the time) social anxiety to its limits. I have FFXIV to thank for helping me push past that barrier. I have also been pet two (2) completely different times by strangers.
Final Fantasy 14 is an MMORPG that released in 2010, got blasted off the face of the earth 2 years later, and then re-released with its first expansion, A Realm Reborn, in 2013. The in-game story actually incorporates this IRL event, which I think is pretty neat. The Game currently has a free trial up to Stormblood, the third expansion right after Heavensward, so there's literally no reason for you to not at least check it out.