I don't know what it is about these games that draws me to them. Is it the longevity, the fact that they will probably never end and will theoretically still be around in 10 years? Is it just because I honestly prefer them?
The two groups of games you mentioned are built different.
The staple games are designed around long-term dopamine drip feeds. That's how they hook you and keep you coming back. The backlog games arguably have something similar in the form of progression systems and story beats, but they're more finite by design.
If you're looking to keep both in your life, I'd suggest aiming to split your time between them. So if you have four hours available, you could play Control for two and Warframe for two if you want to have your comfort food to look forward to, or the other way around if you need to zone out first.
Same here. This year I switched from using the Xbox Live to Game Pass upgrade thing to have it all the time, to paying full price for Game Pass only during the months when I'm actively using it.
The more expensive they make it, the less I'll pay.
They don't meet the koala-fications.