How is this allowed?

[Mawlzy]

I hate to tell you, but you are 100% wrong. It is mostly combat focused. That is the game's core. There is no way to progress in the game without interacting with the combat system. You probably still mistake this as some kind of second life game or something.
The role playing refers to the gaming genre. It means you develop your character by upgrading the level or gear or stats. It doesnt really mean "role playing" like pretending to be something or someone else.
That roleplay stuff you mean has never been popular. Only since i would say around shadowbringers these people started popping up. Sure there were some before. Probably even during ARR but it was a very small part of the community.

I've never met anyone who started playing FF14 because they'd heard the combat system was good, largely because it isn't.