I know ARR was cut down but it really needs more done with it.

[Jeeqbit]

The titan bit was a bit of a slog for me but since I was new to the game it didn't really matter. It provided some time to explore between events. There is a dungeon involved in it as well, Brayflox. None of the rest of ARR was really a slog for me, except the very beginning where I had to hand out food to people and couldn't use a mount to get to them. I also personally enjoyed all of ARR, so it's really just an opinion when some people don't like it.

The only things they could really change, other than the titan part, is making mounts available from the start and making all aetherytes attuned when you enter the area for the first time. Part of the issue is that with Eorzea being our home that we always come back to, we have to circulate around the city states doing story, whereas in any expansion we are exploring new territory so it can be more linear and not make us teleport around. The only other way that could be solved is to make an alternate MSQ that begins in 7.0 or another expansion, which makes it linear from the start.