I dunno. I get MMOs aren't for everybody but that's kinda the point. A classic FF game wouldn't work too well in an MMO context. These games are by design a way to escape reality for as long as humanly possible.

So grinding considered a waste, is actually a vital part of the process. There's still very, very thick story and development over time, and new mechanisms unfold constantly over thousands of hours (my friend played I think over 3,000 so far, I gave up after a couple of hundred cuz I found my wife). Sometimes people just hang out with digital friends. I knew many that had completed the game through every character and class, and they'd literally just be online 8 hours a day +. Just standing around the house they made, occasionally chatting.

So yeah, probably sounds terrible to you but there's an appeal to me, presumably because I'm not happy with my life like everybody else on these games depressed lolz.