I'm glad for instances, since level capped open world dungeons and NM camping are not fun for most people. 8 player parties are past the 5-6 person group that would stop being properly considered a "party". It's an alliance/raid, although a small one.

I don't like time limits of any sort in my games. Not just because they're annoying, but especially in multiplayer games where people have responsibilities and may need to go afk to get the door, take care of a crying baby, or just have their power/connection knocked out, time limits do nothing but guarantee failure. This has happened many times to me personally dealing with events like Dynamis or Nyzul Isle, and I eagerly await the day when SE gets this idea that time limits=fun/challenge out of their heads. There's a reason most MMOs and most games in general got rid of time limits except for extremely limited circumstances where they make sense, like running from a bomb. That reason isn't because "all gamers today are n00bs and want easy mode lolol".

The fights by themselves should be challenging, and if I want to take them at my own pace and have some time to strategize with a group that may be partly or mostly made up of strangers, I should be able to. It's damned hard to get a group of eight people to match their schedules up to do this kind of thing regularly, and they shouldn't punish people who just want to do the content without getting caught up in the endgame drama and politics that inevitably results from setting up statics and endgame ls' for this kind of thing. Groups that can coordinate should be rewarded as well, but pick up groups should have the time to figure out each other's abilities and do the content--otherwise it's a waste of development time to benefit a small portion of the player population.