Heyo, maybe it'd be best to hear from a new player, considering I'm noticing SO MANY people in here speaking for us. I'm not here for, nor do I claim to represent all new players (and neither should y'all, if I'm being honest; you don't). I love the story. I love the grindiness. My attention span is shot to hell (thanks to ADHD+Autism+ menthol i'll nest) so I blast through cutscenes IN THE MOMENT, but when I feel like I can better focus, I search for as many as I can on YouTube or I go through the Inn. Every little bit feels important to me, because it is MY journey. I don't want to feel like a spectator, I don't want the story taken away. I love Final Fantasy as a series, and this feels like a Final Fantasy game that I can play with others. There are people who are going through the same journey as I am, I've come across so many coincidentally doing the same exact questlines as me. I don't think it needs to be further condensed, because at this point it's just up to you how fast you play through it. Perhaps the questlines could be cleaned up, but the story itself is as fleshed out as it needs to be.

People move at different paces, and if someone wants to skip through everything to get to endgame because they don't want to play the "Final Fantasy" aspect of the game, and wish to play the "MMO" aspect of the game, that's perfectly fine and up to them! But there's a way to do that. It's in the cash shop. And if you'd like to do that for free, there's even a way to do that! (though it'd take about a week and a half to two weeks).

As both an aside and healthy reminder:
FFXIV isn't WOW. The point of the game isn't to get to the end as fast as possible because things may be time sensitive or if you mess some timing up youre screwed for weeks or months. The point of the game is the story and the ability is going to first and foremost be for players to focus on the story. I already feel pressured to skip through cutscenes in dungeons and trials because I know, in those 30-60 seconds, that I'm going to either be left behind or yelled at and nagged.

Also, can I just add that the tone of this thread has progressively gotten more and more hostile with every page? I've been reading along ever since page 8 and while initially there was some snark, as is normal for forums, it's gotten to the point where every other response is sarcastic, unproductive, and downright mean at some points. You guys aren't going to change opinions, some people like the story and others enjoy the endgame content, some people feel like the msq is the dullest thing in existence and some feel like it's the most amazing. There's no need for you guys to be sarcastic and hostile and overtly defensive about either position, because they're both valid opinions to be held. Remember that there's someone on the other side of the screen who is just as passionate about their opinion as you.