The moment that made me reconsider FFXIV

[linay]

In order to do the Rising event, you had to wait, for hours on end, of pure waiting

Uhm, I'm sorry for having to tell you this, but you're playing the game incorrectly. It's an event that lasted for days, and so you do other things in game or outside of the game instead of just waiting for hours. I didn't even think about the event. I was doing something and passed by Uldah and saw the npc was up and went in and completed it without any wait.

Also, grind and RNG could be much worse than what it is in the game, and much of it could be alleviated if you really need it by running with friends, but even going solo it isn't bad at all in my opinion compared to what it could be.