1) They're going to do both, most likely, since they've been talking about adding "instance mercs." And this again goes to my point about story content being gated behind difficult content.
2) Of course it has a different experience. It's a multiplayer game. But by the same token of offering a different experience, why bring something that makes it the same as a single player game? There is no need to introduce MORE single player experiences in a multiplayer focused game at this time.
There IS content for both. But this is a multiplayer game, so the majority of content will be multiplayer. Good games have a direction in their development.
And again, for the third or fourth time since you're not reading this: in 4.0, I would not be opposed to them having a mechanic for soloing 2.0 content, as it will be extraordinarily irrelevant by that point.
But for now, and for at least the next development cycle, there is no need for soloable story content as it is still at least somewhat relevant.
This IS an MMO. Not everyone will have the same experience. Just because it has Final Fantasy in the name doesn't mean it should be open to every single play style. They abandoned that logic within the series a LONG time ago.
For example, if you liked VII, you might not like XII. People who love IX hate X. They're different games under the same franchise.
This game isn't even comparable to the OTHER Final Fantasy MMO, which was even LESS soloable and has an even more difficult barrier to entry than this one.
