The game is not that worst that it was back in ARR.

The fact is FFXIV as all others MMOs starts to feel like a routine after years of playing.

Tomes routine.
Craft routine.
Gathering routine.
Dramas routine (I have to assume when I'm bored, even if I don't like them, I tend to step in XD)

About RMT, bots and so... SE is not that bad to deal with them, to compare with some MMO F2P/P2W.

But I agree on one part : the lack of "fun". Except PodT/HuH, and treasure maps dungeons, the locked party size 1/4/8 ends to be rigid and bothering, especially for leveling. A lot of contents are already faceroll sync when overgeared players are in the party, it is disappointing to be forced to run as a fixed team size.