You lost all credibility..>_>

You probably arent even high lvled enough to see anything. There IS a main evil guy on two expansions, and the 3rd one COP is pretty amazing so far.

The story is optional yes, but its very interesting and if you pursue it, areas open up like TuLia, or Lufaise Meadows. It helps bring you closer to the world. Best part is that most of these require party, and beating them with friends shows what FF is about. Its hard, its rewarding when you finally beat it together.

There are some standard quests but some of them are incredibly deep for a sidequest, you just need to find them :P Sandy has one for medevial collar, and each AF is very deep IMO for a side quest.

And you shouldnt compare an MMORPG's way of fighting to a traditional RPGs, you will just lose out..compare it to World of Warcraft or EverquestII...FFXI has a pretty deep fighting system as far as MMOs go.

FFXI=more people will buy rather than FFOnline, so its good marketing strategy i would do it too.