I hate the be the bearer of bad news but Final Fantasy in general has alway been a grind fest. Even pre MMO. The model has always been to follow the story and at some point if you didn't grind a bit between you would get to a part in the story you couldn't do and spent then next few days grinding. The difference here is instead of controlling a party you are one person in that party. That will not change in 2.0 that will not change for ff15, 19, moogles be praised ff50. Grinding is as much a part of Final Fantasy and chocobos, moogles and Cid.

The endless repeatable quest model where you solo to max level on quests and then raid the same place for the next 6 months is really no different except the multiplayer in wow clones just means other people soloing around you and in ff it means the people you grind with.