I really do enjoy this game, although to be blunt it doesn't offer a whole lot to the MMO genre in the way of originality though you could tell that it really tries hard to be unique.

If you only gave this game to level 20, you certainly did not give yourself enough time to "get it" if you're looking for something about it to grab you.

For me personally, I actually enjoyed the main scenario quest line up till the first release wrap up at level 50. It does get annoying with the mundane travel it makes you do, but I liked the story. It keeps you entertained through level 50, and it keeps you geared and gives you a decent amount of gil. After the first "conclusion" of the main scenario, it just becomes a chore because now you have all the fun end game stuff to do but still have to trudge through the crappy "go here go there go here go there" stuff to keep up with the latest content (it's necessary to keep going through it to open up all the end game content).

I've not had much beef with the combat system, though it's certainly not the best, I don't have any general complaints about it either.

I'd say the "fun factor" of the game probably went way up for me after I hit level 50, and even higher after I killed Titan Hard Mode as the first really challenging fight I've had in an MMO for many years (it feels good to beat something that's difficult). I think all the dungeon content is at a really good spot challenge-wise.

I'm a casual player so the biggest source of EXP for me while leveling was the Dungeon Roulette for low level. It's almost an entire half-level just for doing a dungeon through the roulette (only as a daily reward). Combine that with fates, hunting logs, challenge logs, and levequests and you really have lots of ways to make leveling quick and interesting. I'm barely batted an eye and I have a second job up to level 37 just by doing low level roulette every day and the rest of the time playing my main job.

If you have the time and money I say you should definitely give it another shot. It's not like the good ol' days of Vanilla WoW (nothing is or probably ever will be), but it's the probably the best designed and fun to play MMO out there right now (including the current WoW). I have my eye on Everquest Next because of the new mechanics it promises to deliver (permanent world changes based on player involvement). But in my opinion this is the best there is right now and will continue to be for a while.