Is it finally my time to end my journey?

Apologies if there's bad grammar in here, I'm writing this pretty early in the morning.

For the the past 4 years, I used to say that ffxiv was my favorite game. I just to be super passionate about it, and seeing the EW trailer got me so hyped. Though I started to take breaks, and I started to drift apart from my FC. I decided that more breaks would help, but they never really did. Roulettes never felt satisfying to finish in a day, grinding relics just seemed impossible with how much luck I had to get with finding other people. Doing hunt trains never really appealed to me either, as I don't know what sorts of rewards they'd give me.

I used to play xiv because I liked the story, and the sense of adventure (also the mounts lol). Now I just feel like I have nothing to do. I haven't bothered to do the most recent patch's story, and I just can't find myself to care anymore. The last time I was truly excited for something was one of the latest patches for the hildebrand quests, since they're my favorite quests in the game. Even though I haven't been having fun, I still remember xiv as one of my favorite games I've played. Shadowbringers was one of my favorite stories in a videogame, period. Having that experience was worth all the sub-money and fantasias I've spent alone. I just wish I could have fun with xiv again, but I just feel like there's nothing to do, and I don't know if another 3 months of a break is gonna fix that.

My two IRL buddies are super hyped for dawntrail, and honestly? I couldn't care less. Warrior actions seems fine. Nothing of note, just fine. That's how I've felt about xiv a lot recently, I'm just extremely apathetic. I know its the game that I still consider to have some of my fondest moments in gaming, but it doesn't feel like that anymore. It feels like I'm back playing destiny 2 after beyond light, where I was just going through the motions of playing the game, not really enjoying it.

I'm not sure if I can truly enjoy xiv again. I would love to, truly I would. But even though I've met loads of great people through this game, I still feel as though I'm always playing solo, or just extremely distant. Never really a big part of the community, just a person orbiting. Whereas I can hop into a game of deep rock galactic and have some of the most hilarious and deranged conversations I've ever had, all while having a great time playing the game.

If anyone has a solution or just some advice, I'd love to hear it. I know I should just listen to what I truly feel about xiv, but I'm just not sure if I should stick around if dawntrail somehow wows me back into xiv.

Have you done ultimates? They're not hard to PF. Just start with UWU and prog naturally. Worst case scenario you have to join fresh garuda prog groups for a long time. Best case scenario you prog well and can move up to the next levels at a good pace. Once you learn what it's like to prog uwu, you can do the same for ucob or tea.

You don't have to know anyone or make commitments. Just hop into a group at your current level and do your best. Some groups fall apart after a few pulls, some reach the 120 minute time limit and keep going after zoning back in.

You can do it. You don't have to worry about succeeding or knowing what to do for the whole fight, because it's going to be a long road for anyone and we all start at the first prog level. You will develop the necessary skills and knowledge required as long as you continue to grind away at it.

Then there is the rest of the game to engage with still while you continue to work toward your totem. For me it's been a very rewarding journey and I've become a way better player as I progress through the stages of the encounter. I am excited to see what it will feel like to clear, I am excited about what I am learning, and I am looking forward to doing the other ultimates.

Taking a break from a video game, especially an MMO, is always an acceptable option even if that break is years instead of 3 months. There's so much you can play instead of XIV, like DRG, and they'll all offer a variety of different experiences. You're burned out and you know it judging by the tags. The XIV experience has gotten old for you so I suggest just quitting. Come back when there's a lot of story content for you to do past Dawntrail or you feel more socially interested in joining FC's and getting into voice chats with people or something of the like where they might offer something different for you to do. FC's are generally the key to a more rewarding social experience but it requires effort. It doesn't drop in your lap like it does in DRG sometimes.

Like marriage some people fall out of love and it's totally understandable to have that with a video game you've spent so long with. The idea of quitting XIV to me is kind of scary because of sunken cost fallacy but I also still just genuinely enjoy playing the game. That being said every time a friend quits I absolutely get why. I will note that voice chat in games makes for a completely different social atmosphere which XIV just doesn't have *normally* and you'll get a much more extroverted kind of person when in a random lobby with voice chat turned on. That's always nice.

I’ve learned that it doesn’t have to be a black or white answer. You don’t have to quit permanently nor stay permanently. Breaks can be years and that’s fine.

In the past 10 years, I’ve taken a 3-year break, a 1-year break, a 6-month break, a 3-month break, a 1-month break, and it’s fine. Every single time I come back, it’s because I feel re-energized to come back. And that re-energization can take from 1 month up to 3 years. And that’s fine.

You can take a break now and just come back when you want. It doesn’t have to mean you quit.

I took a one year break after Heavensward because I wasn’t excited about Stormblood at all, I didn’t want to leave Ishgard and didn’t think the game could get any better for me. After a year I returned with a freshly fanta’d character and played SB and loved it. It was already well into its patch cycle by then, I think up to 4.3 maybe. I’ve taken smaller breaks in between, the most might’ve been 6 months, and I always feel refreshed and excited to discover new things. Sounds like that’s what you need to do. Burn out is perfectly normal, so don’t worry!

I wouldn't sweat it, if you just are gradually losing interest in the game that's perfectly normal.

I myself have gone through a lot of on and off periods during this expansion because honestly anything post completing the 6.0 story has felt completely lackluster and disappointing as a whole (It's worth noting I don't run ultimates and only occasionally step in pf for savage despite being the skill level for it). Especially without a true relic grind and field zone (think akin to Eureka/Bozja) and the Endwalker content I do run getting very monotonous and mundane.

Thankfully, content wise, Dawntrail is bringing a field zone and is likely to have a relic without it being a glorified tome weapon as the only path of acquiring it. Apparently the encounter design should be improving (at the latest 7.1 or 7.2). And while job design isn't necessarily improving, and isn't likely to until 8.0, I'm holding out with the thin strand that's left with that.

If you haven't tried field zone content now would be an excellent time to. Even if you've already done Bozja (which is likely since you started in Shadowbringers), there's still Eureka. It's not everyone's cup of tea, but in my opinion it's still the best content the game has ever released. Eureka alone snags me and I wind up doing it and sometimes even running the tracker for several hours.

You sound like you're burned out. Quit for a bit. Spend your time on something else that you find enjoyable. Then see if your interest comes back. If you aren't feeling it anymore, you'll just burn yourself out more forcing it. But allowing yourself time to get past the burn out may mean you can come back with a fresh perspective and find your bliss in the game again at some later point.

I've played MMOs since 1999. I've left many, sometimes after breaks where I found I couldn't regain the interest, or sometimes miring myself in misery from being burned out but too stubborn to leave. Hopefully you can find what makes you happy again, in this game or outside it. Wish you the best.

A break is always a healthy option. :) There is no shame in going to play something else for awhile; this game will always be here.

There are many different ways to approach the game, and many different things that are making people stay.
It's possible you haven't found your niche yet.

I used to play FFXIV pretty casually, only doing MSQ, side quests, normal and alliance raids.
I only started properly raiding after 3 years (didn't even know what an opener was before that), did E1S to E8S, and stopped there because it was taking a lot of my time. But I still do BLU savage raids, and recently finished all current Criterion savage raids.

I think the big shift for me was when I started looking at available mounts, minions, glamour, and titles, and started making a sort of wishlist of what I wanted to get. It started as a general "this is what I want for my character" list, but then I expanded it to have one for each job (since you can macro titles, minions, and hotbars).
As a result, to get the minion/title/mount I wanted, I had to go through tons of content that normally I would not have been tempted by.

I didn't really care about fishing, but I wanted the Sea Dragoon title for my DRG -> I leveled FSH (through pure leveling grind, no levequests) -> I tried Ocean Fishing -> I learned how Ocean Fishing works -> I joined a party to try to get the Sea Dragoon title -> I pretty much learned how to actually fish at the same time -> I got the Sea Dragoon title -> "that was fun, actually, now I want to get the rest too" -> I got all the other Ocean Fishing titles -> I started big fishing (Dragons Deep) -> I got Saint of the Firmament on FSH (I wanted the title for my AST lol) -> I started seriously big fishing -> I have all the fishing achievements and my fishing log is complete.

... All because I wanted a title for my DRG. Otherwise I don't know if I would have ever done all that, fishing does look kinda boring from the outside.

Anyway, now I'm what they call an achievement hunter lol. That's my niche, I'm a completionist at heart, I love collecting things, I love working through a big todolist, and I love customization.
Because of that, I got to try pretty much everything the game has to offer (I'm still behind on PvP and Mahjong, and I haven't tried Ultimates yet).
With every niche there's a community, so a chance to meet with people and help each other, socialize, make friends maybe (statics also help a lot with that, but statics don't have to be restricted to raiding only).

Even beyond the boundaries of the achievements menu, there's housing, gposing, roleplaying, whatever activity people are promoting in /shout, and a community attached to all of these things.

You said you liked mounts, so maybe you could also start from there? Open FFXIVCollect, see what you like, look into what you need to do to get it, learn something new, etc.

Try something else, watch your friend play dawntrail and/or talk about their impression after a few weeks, if it make you want to play the game again go for it, if not there are so many interesting games to play this year even an unemployed bum won't find the time to play them all :D