imo ARR thru EW is the best FF story ever. I wish I could go back and play it all for the first time.

I'd probably say wait to come back until 7.2 comes out on the 25 or a month or two after that when some of the more interesting content drops (Occult Crescent etc)

Personally I felt Dawntrail was the weakest MSQ story ... ever but imo don't listen to others and give it a shot to see what you think.

and a good chunk of the more active players who came in during ShB and EW seeing a lot of the proverbial cracks in the wall that have existed in the game for a long time now and feel much more comfortable voicing criticism than some in the community are used to.

Yes and no, it's complicated. Casual newer players are probably doing fine if they like the 7.0 MSQ (which is 50/50) because nothing has changed much for them.

Really what you're seeing (at least imo has someone whose played since ARR) is the one two punch from an extremely divisive MSQ,