What most turns new players off from FFXIV?

[myahele]

I have an alt that I am using to re-experience the story, but I have to say that the "filler" quests in the MSQ is sapping my enthusiasm to continue further.

Here's an example:
The Ladle in the Darkness

Sergeant Cracked Fist needs a hero to make a stew.

Desperate to raise the garrison's floundering morale, Sergeant Cracked Fist has taken a lesson from Gridanian history,and humbly requests that you make a stew and distribute it among the troops. First, obtain the three required chunks of basilisk meat.

You have obtained enough basilisk meat. Take it to the cookfire just outside Camp Bluefog's northern gate, and ad it to the bubbling cauldron.

It will take a little while for the meat to be cooked through. Watch the cauldron until the stew is ready.

Your keen instincts tell you that the basilisk stew is now ready. Scoop it from the bubbling cauldron.

You have three steaming bowls of basilisk stew expertly balanced in your hans. Make your way around Camp Bluefog and give them to the neediest soldiers.

You have doled out all the basilisk stew, which seems to have had the desired effect. Report your success to Sergeant Cracked Fist.

A jubilant Sergeant Cracked Fist thanks you for inspiriting his troops. They now remember their purpose, and stand ready to do their part in the impending phase of the operation.

[DPZ2]

Here's an example:
The Ladle in the Darkness

Funny thing about this and the other 4 quests that follow. Before HW hit, if you weren't level 50 by the time you got to Blue Fog, or slightly undergeared, this quest, and the others in the series involve you in a little bit of combat, explain what's going on in Norther Thanalan so close to the enemy and prep you for that last bit of XP you might need to get to level 50. You can't finish that 4th quest until you hit level 50.

Are they meaningless? Only if you don't believe you deserve that GC rank of Second Lieutenant. They are exactly the sort of things you would do to hearten the troops for the big push that shortly follows.

If you came late to the party, of course you want to whiz through this to get to the 'good stuff'. Perhaps SE will accommodate you, perhaps they can't without radically revising the story line: Cataclysm anyone?