What is the general opinion of the main story questlines?

[Highelfwarlock]

So I am mostly new (played a few times in the past for a bit) and I have committed because I have friends that play now and I was curious about the general opinion of the MSQ because for far I honestly hate it mostly because its super long winded and and of the story points are "hey look the evil guys are doing evil so lets spend 20 quests talking about it and not making any story progress while you do the equivalent of level 1 fetch quests, also it locks you out of a ton of dungeons and content" I think it should just be detached from progression in place putting in some quests were you actually do something other than talk to 20 NPCs and find sheep.
but for real I am just looking to talk trash on it for a bit because its so frustrating when your 10 levels over the MSQ and you get locked out of most areas and content.

[PercibelTheren]

The MSQ takes forever to build up momentum, but I think the payoff is worth it. I'm personally not the biggest fan of the story of A Realm Reborn, but I didn't think it was that bad. Standard MMO stuff, really. I understand why some things are gated behind MSQ progression, but some, like mounts, should probably be detached from it.

[Highelfwarlock]

honestly so far the thing I love the most is hildabrand lol I found the first questline late one night while I couldn't sleep and was kinda baked and I had the best time following it (more so with how I dress in game) and I adored it and I know why: its very lupin the 3rd/case closed meets pink panther with hildabrand playing the part of the bumbling but brilliant inspector clouseau. for real right now I am trying to burn though the MSQ to 90 so I can just do the rest of the hildabrand questlines and start really unlocking stuff so I can run stuff with my friends

[Korbei]

It's great when it's not about the empire or ascians. When it's about a war against dragons, awesome. Fighting an alien robot or taking down primals, cool. When it's about fighting sin eaters, incredible. Au'ra tribe gladiatorial rites, heck yeah.

Anytime a stupid Garlean shows up or a pointy-fingered black cloak...zzzzzz

[Jeeqbit]

So I am mostly new (played a few times in the past for a bit) and I have committed because I have friends that play now and I was curious about the general opinion of the MSQ

1. The general opinion is that's it's extremely good and many people say it's the best story they've experienced or even better than films (well, films can only tell a story in 3 hours compared to this which spans weeks).
2. It's a story-driven game, because the Final Fantasy series in general is all about story, with boss fights along the way.
3. It attracts a lot of Final Fantasy single player gamers, not just veteran MMORPG players!

I honestly hate it mostly because its super long winded

This is a major point of debate, both amongst players and the developers, because the game has been through a lot of expansions and patches (approaching 7.0 now, and the expansions are 3.0, 4.0, 5.0 and 6.0, each with their 5 major story patches). It's one long, continuous story. They aren't separate, and that makes it difficult to just jump into the end of the game or catch up to it, particularly for those with limited time or limited attention spans for story.

the story points are "hey look the evil guys are doing evil so lets spend 20 quests talking about it and not making any story progress while you do the equivalent of level 1 fetch quests

It does take it slow. But that also allows for character building and for you to get develop a sense of normality or calmness. We could describe this as the calm before the storm. If it's always action then action risks becoming the norm, and is no longer as impactful. Understanding what drives these characters and what they are thinking and feeling gives them more depth than just going and killing them.

also it locks you out of a ton of dungeons and content

It's a story-driven game, where the story inspires the mechanics, music and design of the dungeons and content. Without that context, they make less sense and the excitement for a new patch may be significantly reduced, at least I have seen story skippers say this when they got tired of seeing everyone excited for expansions and went through the story to understand why they were so happy always. And then they understood. The story creates additional hype and excitement as opposed to just thinking "so we'll get a new boss with some different mechanics, what's the hype?" It generates additional excitement for why you want to fight the boss and why you should care about this boss.

I think it should just be detached from progression in place putting in some quests were you actually do something other than talk to 20 NPCs and find sheep.

Don't know, it might have a bit of finding sheep but that is certainly not what most of it is like unless you're not paying attention to the story.

The primary mistake people make is thinking they can enjoy the story whilst also wanting to rush to the end of the game. The only way the MSQ is going to be enjoyable is just to take your time, soak it in and enjoy it. If you're just trying rush it will probably just be painful and maybe what you're looking for is the skip packs on the mog station.

There are people who skip and just do the raids and other content without the context of the story. They don't talk about it (this isn't a good idea because it's trolling when most people playing like the story), but if that's what you're really looking for, there are people who do it and are just fine.

[Highelfwarlock]

I legit agree on ALOT of your points, every now and then I stop and watch and say "hey this is cool final fantasy stuff" but its sandwiched in between a ton of lore in the past you never see happening and I don't care about and longed winded chain quests about helping a farming brake rocks or some shit? if they just "cut the fat" so to speak, as well as adding more actual real quests and maybe fine tune some story points it will be way better! I mostly just want it to be a bit more comprehensive, less filler, at the very leave heavily shrink down or disconnect the post story MSQ bits so you can jump into the next part of the game faster. also just more likeable characters in general because most of the characters are super basic and could use more flavor lol

[Jeeqbit]

"hey this is cool final fantasy stuff" but its sandwiched in between a ton of lore in the past you never see happening

The past is a big deal in Final Fantasy games and provides context.

I don't care about and longed winded chain quests about helping a farming brake rocks

If you mean the titan quests in ARR, those were always a drag and the ARR MSQ was built with filler unlike the expansions. They changed their philosophy for the expansions and eventually they did go back to ARR and remove a lot of the filler or allow you to fly so you can get places faster, but they left the titan quests that involve you breaking rocks for some reason.

That reason became more clear later on because we eventually meet the Company of Heroes again in a sidequest, so they can't entirely remove it now.

Generally if you feel a certain way, such as being frustrated at being misled to do some pointless quests, or having to walk somewhere, SE wants your character to feel that way in the story.

at the very leave heavily shrink down or disconnect the post story MSQ bits so you can jump into the next part of the game faster.

The post-MSQ stories are very good and sort of an expansion in their own right though. Even the post-MSQ of ARR is extremely good with a plot that I really enjoyed at the time. It was a bit tedious traveling everywhere for it, but you can fly now so it's much less tedious than it was.

also just more likeable characters in general because most of the characters are super basic and could use more flavor lol

They did notice that in ARR so they did something in the ARR patches to change that. I... won't say what, in case you didn't do it, but it results in them being different and less samey.

They do also explore some of their characters in certain expansions, or in some cases sidequests such as raid stories or job/role quests.

But overall, SE takes their time with idle chatter like humans in real life do and that's just how they do it. They aren't rushing to tell the story in an extremely efficient way like some games might.