The whole situation is kind of a damned if you do damned if you don't situation. Without the Duty Finder we'd be left with the Party Finder which on it's own is only a marginal improvement over FFXI's system of standing around in Jeuno or whichever city you use as a hub and shout/yelling for a group. WITH Duty Finder everyone just stands around at Mor Dhona and DFs into instances. I can tell you though I likely would have had an easier time with Assaults/Salvage if something like Duty Finder had existed during ToAU time in FFXI.