Flight should require completion of the MSQ in that area, because you only get the on-foot experience once and it's nice. Being able to fly would allow you to see parts of the map that give away what happens in the story. There just are parts of the maps that make it pretty obvious they are involved and give clues to what happens ahead of time.

You can collect the aether currents by pressing the compass on the way to each quest task and complete sidequests while doing main quests nearby and this makes it very efficient and painless. I have done it on multiple alts and it does remove the pain of collecting them most of the time.

The invisible walls and unclear maps are annoying but this issue is quickly eliminated by flying really.

You said quests require you to kill 30 enemies. That is true in other MMOs, but in FFXIV you are only asked to kill 3 enemies on average. I found this a big reason for me to play this game actually. More than 3 is about where you start to get bored and it becomes grindy.

Yes the game is mostly full of cut scenes, but those cut scenes give context to the dungeons, trials and raids that you do, making them more enjoyable and have more fun mechanics.

You complained about fighting enemies on a gathering class. I found that to be part of the fun of a gatherer - that you had to avoid enemies. As you said, they did change it because they listen to player feedback.

As you have said the story and cut scenes are a big part of this game. It's a story-driven game and that's not for everyone. If you did buy a skip as you seem to have implied, getting through Shadowbringers isn't that hard. I've skipped through shadowbringers on multiple alts. Just spend a weekend doing it and it's out of the way.