I slogged thru it. Took me near on a week from the moment I hit 50 'til the moment I opened the gates to Ishgard. Story had its moments but i kept wishing I could just waltz into the new areas at level and pickup the main storyline from there like in pretty much every other MMO on the market.

Seriously dreading a repeat experience when I hit 60 and have to slog thru the HW endgame to get to SB.