I'll be honest, if I couldn't have played through Dawntrail's mainquest without worrying about levelling, and had gotten levelgated sometime in between this slog of a narrative, I would have just put down the game and not picked it up anymore. This is 100% on the writing, and I just wanted it to be over. And I've read that sentiment with others, too.

I also played some of the old ARR back in the day, and while I didn't stick around back then, I wasn't bothered by the sidequesting then because I enjoyed the early worldbuilding, the charm and personality in the side quests and activities, the care put into everything. It was also the start of the MMO, and I didn't feel any rush; I played it like a sandbox game.
But it's not that game anymore, and I don't think those times can be brought back short of just torching everything again and going "A Realm Re-Reborn" - and all that provided the writing gets at least back up to the level of ARR.

And I'm a story enjoyer. I've always watched the cutscenes, I went around to talk to characters between quest stages to hear what they had to say, etc. I don't even have a problem with "Go here, talk to X, watch a cutscene" for the main quest while it's good writing, and it's been that for a long time. I'll also sit through visual novels with no problem. As with others, Dawntrail singlehandedly turned me into a cutscene skipper and made me fast-push the button in dialogue if it was the same thing over and over again. "Wuk Lamat talks about peace again? The sentimental music? There won't be anything of value in this; skip."