You dont need the story.

[linayar]

Which I thought interesting since I was clear that the importance to the story wouldn't be changed, just some people could smoothly and logically get into the thick of it easier.

Once the story is optional or broken up like WoW, they don't have to care about it as much, and that's a slippery slope I'm not willing to risk just because someone can't afford to go through the story (even if they have to skip every cutscene and mash through every dialog box and/or pay to boost the earlier MSQ).

And the prime example of this is WoW. It's such a convoluted mess with how the story quests are so disconnected and certain quests just disappear or no longer require certain other quests on a much more frequent basis than FFXIV.