the story lines it up of "WHY" we get to go into ishgard and the other areas. if you do not like the story then all well and good. though the story progresses like you would watch a tv show. Heavensward is season 2 of said show. you can skip season 1 lie the way you said you were doing. though in the end. you do not know who or why it is happening.

i agree that FF14 is the storys main focus. 1.0 never had a story when it launched. it also stopped a lot of RMT activity because of said gate is in place. so we do not see buy gil for X amount in the new zones because of it.