When I was a new player I skipped all the cut-scenes I was allowed to because it was a waste of time. I never enjoyed the "story-telling" cut-scenes of ANY game. If I wanted to watch a movie, I'd put on a movie; I want to play a game. Some people like cut-scenes in their video games, some people don't. For those that DO like cut-scenes; there's a journal in the inn that lets you re-watch them. For those that want to experience cut-scenes as they were intended there's party finder. I remember taking people in my FC through castrum so they could watch the cut-scenes w/o feeling pressured to skip 'em. I found it boring AF, but was willing to help out. That was MY decision to help out and spend my time twiddling my thumbs while people watched the cut-scenes. It was also MY decision to skip the cut-scenes when I first ran it and any time afterward. SE has take away both new players and veteran player's choice to accommodate a vocal minority who are unwilling to either get their FC friends to help out, use party finder to get a group to help them out or simply skip the cut-scenes and watch them later. Well; to some extent veterans do have a choice: to not run that content. By making the above comment, you're making a lot of assumptions about those that would rather skip cut-scenes completely whether they've seen them or not; since those that made that choice as a new player are generally not vocal because they had that choice to skip the cut-scenes. The OP is not alone and probably won't be the last that complains about being forced to watch cut-scenes when they just want to play.
To avoid making assumptions, here's a poll: https://www.strawpoll.me/15739249
