MSQ

[Enla]

Except those 'in between' quests are all set up for the expansions to come and every single one of them have story beats the can be called back to at any time. 5.4 for example had a storyline with Merylwyb that started back in 2.2 and that no one thought to resolve till now. Hell the whole 'Warriors of Darkness' schtick was part of the expanded Heavensward questline after the initial expac and we got an entire expansion dedicated to their world and storyline in the form of Shadowbringers. Absolutely none of them are 'optional' storybeats because they're there to continue the story into the next expansion and beyond. The idea that they're 'side quest' worth simply because they happen in between expansions is a pretty bad faith take at best.

Honestly if the story isn't something you want to bother with there is a solution for that. Compared to the hours you'd spend doing the story the monetary value is quite the bargain. SE made it pretty clear that they aren't going to make the MSQ optional any time soon so this is the only option you are going to get if it's affecting your enjoyment that much. "But SE might listen to us!" Unless we get another FF MMO to replace this one as it goes into maintenance mode I very much doubt they will. The MSQ is a selling point for this game. If it was truly such a huge impediment to player enjoyment they'd have the data to show that. Which is the primary reason they reduced the number of quests in ARR but nowhere else in the storyline. Until the data actually reflects that people are abandoning this game due to the MSQ they aren't going to change a single thing.