I wouldn't recommend skipping the story. After you catch up, you'll get loads and loads and loads more quest to skip with the next patch, losing a lot of the value of the product and now you don't have any context for what is happening. You can use NG+ to go back and do it... but at that point, why not just do it in the first place? I do think the game is a bit slow to start (thank goodness for the rework next patch), though while I know a few people who skipped everything, IMO if someone sees the story as an obstacle then maybe this isn't the right MMO for them.

I love having people come into the game and tell me their thoughts on the story so far, their experiences, their favourite characters, etc. Just today I met up with one of my companions who just started Heavensward recently and it's been a remarkable point of connection to have something we can both talk about, which is part of FFXIV's biggest selling points.

Most players have experienced the story. We've all seen the same movie and have characters we are rooting for or things to speculate on. I would never encourage anyone to buy a MSQ skip or take one for free if it was an option. I validate it as a product, only because third parties will try to sell it as a service anyways so this kind of stymies that part of the market by restricting the profit.

Hard pass. Story has a bit of filler early on that has to go, but that aside XP progression and MSQ progression are fine.