I don't want to sound mean but maybe you are just not good enough for raiding.

Like you I play on the Light DC and had absolutely no problem to get my e1-4s kills via df without a static.
Well, every Tuesday I looked at the Raiding Discord for a group to do the reclears but beside that I didn't do anything with friends.
Over all my time investment was really low because I stopped playing when I didn't perform well and just switched groups when one didn't reached the wanted mechanic.

Raiding in FFxiv is easy.