Who ever got six-person parties in the first place?

[Alhanelem]

14-15 leeches (afk/low level/awful gear)

People that are fighting and are at least high enough to have reasonable accuracy (Atmas and stat boosts mean you can be a fair bit lower than you would have to be outside of abyssea.

I've NEVER met an alliance (except for paid arrangements where one guy is Charged Whiskering or Cleaving clusters of monsters and people are paying like 250k to leech exp on it) where "14-15" people were leeches. A lot of people claim to have this AFK problem, I've yet to be in a party in this update that had more than one or two people AFK at any given time- Most people dont tolerate it and if you're AFK for more than a few minutes without saying something, you usually get kicked. People that are of level and have crap gear are not leeches. They're doing the best they can and/or they are newer and are trying to cap their level before they try to buff up their character. The only people who qualify as leeches are those who are doing nothing to contribute, e.g. people who are AFK.

[FrankReynolds]

People that are fighting and are at least high enough to have reasonable accuracy (Atmas and stat boosts mean you can be a fair bit lower than you would have to be outside of abyssea.

I've NEVER met an alliance (except for paid arrangements where one guy is Charged Whiskering or Cleaving clusters of monsters and people are paying like 250k to leech exp on it) where "14-15" people were leeches. A lot of people claim to have this AFK problem, I've yet to be in a party in this update that had more than one or two people AFK at any given time- Most people dont tolerate it and if you're AFK for more than a few minutes without saying something, you usually get kicked. People that are of level and have crap gear are not leeches. They're doing the best they can and/or they are newer and are trying to cap their level before they try to buff up their character. The only people who qualify as leeches are those who are doing nothing to contribute, e.g. people who are AFK.

This is basically what I have seen too. Worst thing I've run into is new players that don't know better running off and killing the wrong mobs, or not calling for help on murex and elementals.

[Meyi]

I've NEVER met an alliance (except for paid arrangements where one guy is Charged Whiskering or Cleaving clusters of monsters and people are paying like 250k to leech exp on it) where "14-15" people were leeches. A lot of people claim to have this AFK problem, I've yet to be in a party in this update that had more than one or two people AFK at any given time- Most people dont tolerate it and if you're AFK for more than a few minutes without saying something, you usually get kicked. People that are of level and have crap gear are not leeches. They're doing the best they can and/or they are newer and are trying to cap their level before they try to buff up their character. The only people who qualify as leeches are those who are doing nothing to contribute, e.g. people who are AFK.

I disagree. Leech to me is someone who isn't pulling their weight in a group. They can be level 99, have awful pink gear, and still be a leech. If they are there to deal damage and their damage output is low then they are a leech. If they are there to cure and people are dying constantly then they are a leech.

The thing is I don't mind leeches. We all have to start somewhere. And really, how many people go back to parties when they have capped out everything they need capped on a job? So yeah, parties are generally created for people who are still working towards bettering their job and there's nothing wrong with that. As long as people don't think they're amazing players just because they ding 90+ then I'm cool.