Seen some comparisons to WoW. As a player coming from WoW, I wouldn't compare the two. WoW and FFXIV are strong in vastly different ways. I like both for different reasons. Combat-wise I do like WoW better. It's faster paced and more versatile with talents, at the expense of balance though. I mean honestly, players here getting upset about a 3-4% damage difference between certain jobs meanwhile the graph for WoW DPS is just... insane. Overall, the story isn't the core to WoW - you're just some champion going along with the game's cast. I do feel the worldbuilding is better, I get more of a mood/theme from WoW's environments than in FFXIV. Other than that, combat/gameplay is WoW's focus.

FFXIV's core, however, IS its story. Personally I hate how WoW does it. If you were entering WoW now as a new player. You'd get dropped off in Battle for Azeroth, well into the game's universe and in the middle of a war between two factions you know nothing about. After that you enter Shadowlands, an expansion set up as the afterlife with characters/references dating back multiple expansions - expansions new players wouldn't even have gotten the chance to touch. If you wanted to play throughout each expansion to actually understand the story, you'd need multiple characters leveled up through separate parts. Now some people might prefer this, but I much prefer FFXIV's style getting us more involved with one character. Honestly to me the barrier for entry is lower in FFXIV with the older dungeons being easier and letting us play through each expansion to fully understand the story.

I honestly don't even know what I'd suggest to you. WoW's system is awful and basically leads to all the previous expansions being wasted content for newer players. I disagree that most players are story skippers. Sometimes yes I get tired of all the dialogue but overall I do feel respected for my time. This isn't meant to 'come at you' or anything like that, as I can understand the game might not be 100% for everyone. I just am not sure what giving new players a new entry (like a skip in the story) would do. This game isn't set up that way.