Pretty much every MMO has a form of gating- as in you have to do something in order to proceed to something else. Usually that involves a considerable amount of grinding to hit end level, another considerable amount of grinding to get geared, and often another set for attunements or necessary items to do the only part of the game that matters (raiding).

I feel like the MSQ is an alternative to forced grind, and a really good one. It also feels like the MSQ, crafting, early dungeons/eikons/raids aren't just meant to be barriers to the real part of the game (end game raiding), but are meant to be part of the game itself.

Perhaps if this was the typical 'endgame content is all that matters' game I could see all the other content as something that needs to be skipped, but to me the MSQ feels like an important part of the game not just a grind meant to slow you down like most levelling systems in MMOs.