Nice!
I also liked saving the Grove and disrupting the Absolute's plans. But so far the tension in BG3 comes from self preservation. As the Thayan door acknowledges -- self interest is a Thayan value. Compare this to the tension in BG1 -- 1) end the iron crisis and 2) stop the war with Amn. BG2 -- rescue your friend before it's too late and stop the evil mage from becoming a new evil god. (and, yes, the alternative to see these as revenge and self preservation missions).
Now there is still an opportunity for the narrative to shift from exclusively self interested to heroic. Stopping the evil before it hurts others instead ending my personal crisis would make it feel more heroic and 'realmsy'.
I dunno, I think whether or not the story is driven purely by self interest or by heroic intent is really up to the individual. My first character was a Githyanki pirate and he absolutely was only motivated by self interest. He didn't deal with any of the Grove stuff, bypassed Ethel's swamp entirely, and killed the goblin leaders all to get Halsin back for himself.
My dwarf ranger though is very different. He's going through the same path but not just because he wants to save himself but because he wants to save the grove and the tieflings and stop a bloodbath between them.
Plus thanks to the nature of the tadpole your self interest is also heroic in and of itself. Because if you turn you don't just die; you also become a mind flayer and effectively allow a great evil to manifest from your doom. For my heroic dwarf that is the fate he's so compelled to resist. His own demise is to be avoided, but he'll gladly die before allowing such an evil into the world.
I think one of my favorite interactions was informing Astarion that I do indeed intend to drink the wyvern's poison and die if I start to turn. His reaction really made it feel like my dwarf was a very heroic individual.
