Simple Answer: Good but not up to snuff yet.
Longer Answer:
If you're starting from scratch, you won't get a lot of hand holding along the way. A lot of the tutorials are slated for 2.0. They've changed a few things but I haven't played from scratch since launch so I don't know anything about that.
From zero, you'll have at least 1~3 months of grinding to max level, in between grinding content and other miscellaneous things to do for a single class (though you're likely to level multiple classes just for the skills). Grinding is not as bad as it used to be as there are exp chains and bonuses for linking enemies in parties.
The UI is better than it was at launch, but it does not have the snappiness of modern gen MMOs. This won't be fixed until 2.0.
Crafting may not be your cup of tea as it involves a mini game that encourages spamming enter from 1-50. Reforms are planned to simplify crafting mechanics, though not much detail is given as to how. In the mean time, recipes have been incredibly simplified.
As a rough example of how it was before: To create a hooded body piece, you would have needed hooded body back piece, front piece, the hood and the sleeves for the hooded body. Each part may have required 2-3 synths to make, which means it would have taken as much as 10 part synths for a single item synth. Dying made it worse as you would have to dye each individual part before you could make the final piece. Some synths didn't make sense at all. Example: A level 10 synth would require a drop from a level 30 monster. Some synths required very obscure parts that was only used in that particular synth itself, and as such demand for that part was not great at all, meaning that part in itself was rare.
Now however, to make the same body piece, you would need 2-3 cloths and maybe some leather pieces that are easily obtainable through the market wards.
Combat mechanics were overhauled recently. Whatever Tanaka had in mind at launch is out the window as classes were given specific identities (EG: Conjurer given access to most healing spells making them a main healer of sorts, while Thaumaturge has been given access to powerful nukes). The battle regimen system has been disabled while they rework it from the ground up (thank goodness), and in place a combo system has been implemented where if you use certain weaponskills/spells from a certain direction, you can combo with other weaponskills/spells for additional effects. Note the combo system is individual only, unlike the FFXI skill chain system, you can only combo with yourself. So combos from other players won't interfere with your own combos.
In terms of content: Currently, there are 2 raids (one level25~30 and one end game (45~50), but you'll have a hard time finding groups to do either one without a linkshell. There is also an Ifrit battle and a moogle battles to do, and shouts for those fights are plentiful. In 2.0, they will be introducing content finder which is a system that allows folks from all servers to seek for an instanced content (like raids or ifrit etc). Until then, you are limited to what players you can find on your own server. They also introduced an achievement system recently if you consider that content.
There are exclusive events going on leading up to the changes to 2.0 going on at the moment, but they may not interest you unless you are a lore fanatic like I am. The current event has a teleporting crystal spawning in the 3 main cities that transport you to locked areas in game you can't access otherwise where you fight some sort of cult who believe in the coming of Dalamud the moon. AKA:
Next patch we're getting jobs for each of the 7 classes.
Archer > Bard
Gladiator > Paladin
Marauder > Warrior
Conjurer > White mage
Thaumaturge > Black mage
Pugilist > Monk
Lancer > Dragoon
It is not known how they will affect gameplay, but these jobs will not level up in the same sense classes do. The only way to "Level up" these jobs will be to do quests every 5 levels starting from level 30 in order to unlock the job itself and earn new abilities and traits.
. Im from Austria and the game sold terrible here, so you get it really cheap.
