The hook.

What is the thing that makes the built details worth caring about? Is there a single big novel concept or a bunch of interesting stories, or just anything worth sinking into?

Pages upon pages of how a magic system works is like disconnected rambling if it isn’t in service of something interesting.

I much prefer broad stroke worldbuilding that initially starts by creating a theme or an atmosphere, touches on details in passing as they come up to be of interest, and only after establishing these broad foundations gets into the nitty gritty, and even then only if going into the ultra micro detail level is needed to be explained for some other purpose.

Honestly the parts of world building that always intrigues me is the daily life of people. Sometimes the most mundane daily activity can be very telling of the world and characters.

Anime does this so damn well that Disney (do they even make cartoons anymore) and other animation studios don’t get into. Characters cooking, cleaning, getting dressed or even just lounging around on a hot day. They feel like more believable characters because of the nuances of humanity that they reveal through those mundane moments.