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Welcome to MMOs. The shitty boring part stuff part of every MMO in existence inexplicably. At least.. every MMO that's been made. They simply do the same stuff differently.
The shitty boring part is designed to keep you playing but often just seems like an exercise in futility, but keep on grinding so you can get to the fun part while your subscription is still active. Without it, SE would not make nearly as much money with XIV as they do.
Plus, 1/5th free time hours, isn't that bad. It also makes sense since MMOs are designed to be time sinks and not enjoyable games with interesting and engaging elements.
I would argue the fun part is completing the story campaign. the endgame is to keep people playing past the initial 50 hour campaign. The whole point is to offer good items and make them hard to get. If they give you all the crafting items super easy, then what do you do? If your goal is to not have to play the game anymore you can do that right now, and come back next patch/expansion.