I want to play the game long term

[seriithaz]

I mean, it’s literally impossible to play FFXIV ‘long-term’. It simply is not designed that way,

You’re supposed to play it infrequently for small amounts of time in between other games, according to Yoshi-P. As a result, once you’ve finished MSQ that’s pretty much it for the game unless you like statics and raiding (or fake PvP esports LOL)

so what i said in my post then? i just wanted advice on how to take the story or something to keep my interest in the game/story

[Jojoya]

so what i said in my post then? i just wanted advice on how to take the story or something to keep my interest in the game/story

Consideration one: FFXIV isn't WoW. You need to shed any expectations you have for the game based on your WoW experience. (I came from WoW also, played both games in WoD and Legion but quit WoW at the end of Legion). Play the game for what it is, not what you think it should be.

Consideration two: the story here is important. Just about everything in the game revolves around it. Interest in the story isn't something you can force. Either you're willing to pay attention to it or you're not. While you may still enjoy some of the game play if you don't care about story, you'll get a lot more out of the game if you pay attention to what's going on storywise. If you're really not a story person, don't try to force yourself through it. Purchase a MSQ skip if not also a job potion.

Consideration three: if you're having problems staying interested in the existing jobs, I would lower expectations for what Viper will be like. It will likely end up the same as the existing melee DPS jobs - combo for single target, combo for AoE, building resources until you can use a big attack to spend those resources and start over. There's a lot more to a good job than a flashy name.