I've also found that the FFXIV community has a lot of flaky individuals within it. My partner and I wanted to raid, though we'd prefer not to do stuff through the party finder in favour of a static we can bond with over time.

Generally speaking, it appears pretty difficult to find one if you're not in a static already. I used to raid in WoW and didn't have much trouble finding people to raid with who were punctual and reliable. Here, though? Even getting a group together for POTD or HOH can be very hit or miss. Which is a shame.