The MSQ length isn't the problem, A lot of that worldbuilding is
why so many people praise and get so attached to FFXIV's story. The problem is the lack of gameplay variety.
Every one of the 240 pre-HW quests is either:
- Click on an object/NPC
- Walk to an NPC/object somewhere else and click on them
- Kill some fodder mobs in the open world
- Kill some fodder mobs that appear when you go to a certain location
- Kill some fodder mobs in a solo instance
- Walk to and complete a dungeon
So much text and nothing interesting to break it up, eventually it all starts to smear together.