Yep, the problem is after the initial population rush, there's no reason to go back, like ever unless you want certain gear pieces - Even XI had content you'd redo for various reasons like Limbus even if you didn't do it for the AF+1 or Omega/Ultima/accessories pieces you could always do it for coins and make money. Here, there's honestly no real reason for me as a 50 SCH to go back into Copperbell or Haukke Manor.

However, Gated Content is a staple of FF games - every single one (maybe not as much as the new ones) had content that was inaccessible to you for a while either till main story completion or certain side activities were done - so the problem is, especially as DPS, DF times are extremely long especially after instead of everyone seeking together, SE broke the servers into groups that SIGNIFICANTLY raised search times.