I thought the solo duties were frustrating...

[Mawlzy]

None of the MSQ is barricaded behind difficult content. Even if someone finds normal difficulty too difficult for whatever reason they could utilize the Trust system and do nothing but dodge AOEs while the NPCs kill the boss and still clear. If that bar is still too high then they are in a very, very niche cohort that I don't think it's fair to expect the devs to design around. Which isn't to say those people are worth less or they shouldn't still try, get help from other players, etc, but the "you must be this tall to ride" bar has to be somewhere. Clearly where it was previously wasn't acceptable to a majority of the player base.

At the risk of cross-threading, it's the solo duties that are the big problem because there is no way of helping friends through them.

As to where the "this tall to ride" bar should be, I'd suggest it is getting boosted artificially high because of the people the director/producer listens to. I'm very uncomfortable with any scenario in which people who breezed through Stormblood now find themselves stuck.