Hot Take: The MSQ grind is too long and its harmful to expanding friend groups.

[MistakeNot]

So basically you want a single player story focused RPG

I like those too, but no. I like MMOs, and I like playing MMOs together with friends.
What I do not like is grinding dungeons (and raids, etc.) over and over and over just to get a little bit better gear.

The so-called endgame in most MMOs is mostly just boring filler content designed to keep players busy while they wait for the next expansion. It is of little interest to me.
Luckily there are many MMOs (including FFXIV) where the road to the endgame (i.e. the leveling part) is interesting in its own right.