If you are having to grind your first job, you are in the wrong area. I could argue that even on your second job, you may be doing it wrong. After that it will most likely start to feel grindy. There are FATE parties that are essentially giant grind fests with 8 others, but it is extremely fast xp. You have leve quests for a couple hundred/thousand xp based on your level. I am at 42 and the only reason I have to grind is because I intentionally skipped quests to leave for my CNJ. And I could always go back and do the quests I skipped but nope. You will find mini stories in with some of your quests and your class/job quest are a storyline in themselves. There is Bahamut's coil now and the crystal tower is to be implemented in 2.1. I am disappointed with the airship a little but that's fine. It would be fun the first couple of times, but then it just becomes a time sink. The NM's are meh. There are a couple FATES that give bonuses though. Problem with NM's is you aren't really fighting other players, but botters and RMT. not fun in the least.