A Lived in World?

[Jojoya]

Not that I'm advocating for the removal of PF or anything [jesus christ what a nightmare] but things felt a lot different when you had to seek parties out in larger towns for raids or farms, even having to travel with your party to the raid entrance went a long way in making the player more integrated into the world. I think it would be healthier for both those engaging in "endgame" AND people that play more chill and on their own terms if there was less separation between those groups of people even on the most shallowest level. You can come wave and emote at the raiders gathering outside the raid entrance on your way doing fates or hunts or w/e even just that small silly bit of no-stakes interactivity would help!

So where is this lobby you feel like you're stuck in?

I spent part of the night trying to puzzle out why anyone would feel like this is nothing but a lobby game. The character selection screen is technically a lobby. The Fall Guys event has a lobby. Chocobo Square used to be a lobby until the devs added Chocobo Racing to Duty Finder. But overall, players have plenty of freedom of movement to be doing other things while waiting for a party to fill. We are not stuck sitting in a lobby unless we choose to do nothing while waiting.

So thinking back to your comment about how it felt different when players had to travel to the instance entrance within the open world, I'm guessing some people are defining lobby game only by how the instance is entered and not what the player can do while waiting for a party to form.

If someone wants to see it as a lobby game, that's their choice. But they should be asking themselves if they're creating a better game experience for themselves by using that mindset.

Also, if you want some player interaction while waiting for your party to form there is nothing stopping you from initiating it. Go to where players are doing things and share those emotes with them. It's somewhat strange that you're expecting them to stop what they're doing to come to you when you're the one doing nothing while you wait.