Its a shame Paladins have to be tanks. I understand.

[Driavna]

"To be clear: I have played WOW. I know for a fact that there are a lot of lovely people in it. I also know that the wall-to-wall pull is not new to FF."

Please read.

Been playing since ARR (but only sticking around after HW) and FF14 has always been like you describe. Also been playing MMO's since UO/Everquest and certain behaviours were always there (the level of toxicity UO had before they finally did Felucca/Tremmel was something else), just happens that in older games you needed to socialise instead of having those very convenient DF/PF tools.

IMO MMO's are more social than ever, thanks to so many programs and platforms, but are not that apparent and usually isolated within their own communities.

Anyway, randoms are going to be random so if you are looking for certain type of experience is better to stick to players that share your ideas. Will be blunt: this is a "you" problem and no one else's (and by this I mean wanting a random to behave in a certain way). Online experiences are way more tamed and sanitized today's than before.