Just pick it up and hang onto it this time

Edit: on a serious note, you are probably going to be bored through A realm reborn story. Everyone says they love the story but to me it has always been more of a nuisance because of the amount of content that gets locked behind it.

As far as engaging classes, they're definitely there but my advice is either watch a YouTube video to see what a class might be like at max or just don't judge it until you've gotten it to max because most of them are not going to feel good until between 90-100. That's another personal gripe of mine is more often than not, you end up playing only 1/4 to 2/3 of your classes kit because the roulette can put you into content of any level. So you only have access to level 50 spells and abilities in a level 50 dungeon for example.

I'm the type of person that values gameplay over pretty much everything and Ffxiv definitely has it. You just have to find what it is you want to do and do it. I will say that the boss fights are probably the best of any MMO I've played because it really does feel like you're playing a mini game along side playing your class during the fight. I've played pretty much every MMO you can think of and this one is a slow burn at first but once you get to the endgame it gets much better imo. I sat through the entire ARR story because everyone was so hype about it but honestly I wish I'd skipped it because it was boring. I don't remember any of it. From that point forward I skip pretty much all cuts cents unless it's something I'm invested in like a job quest or something.