The real reason people chose papism over Orthodoxy is for one simple reason: its easier.
You don't have to fast more than a couple hours, church services are much shorter, it's much more familiar with western culture, you don't have to go full vegan during lent, you don't have to guard against your thoughts as much since they encourage imagination in prayer. You have a wider access to financial resources and political connections. You don't have to learn the Dogmas of the Ecumenical Councils, you just have to follow whatever the current pope says. You can act more arrogant thinking your church's capital wasn't conquered by muslims or communists and there's more historical military figures for autistic young men to larp as. It allows people to cosplay Apostolic Christianity without living Ascetic life as the Apostles did.
The funny thing is, papists think this is their winning argument, it actually proves that their church is false and teaches the snake oil salesman false prosperity gospel no different than Joel Osteen does. Joel Osteen is just more honest about it.
Orthodoxy is hard and wants you to really struggle and endure sorrows as Christ and the early Church did, it doesn't promise all this prosperity and power and to make your life easier like papism and protestantism do, because the goal to purify you of all your worldly habits and passions, and that is a very painful process, and the struggle and unfamiliarity can be too much for a lot of people.