I'll say this first so hopefully people read it: Please don't reply to this thread simply to say "It's fine" or "Terrible ideas" - please take the time to articulate a thoughtful reply.

With the addition of the job system, group-based combat should take on a stronger role in the game, and I would like to put forward my ideas for this, as well as hear anyone else's ideas.

So far, I have found the group-based combat in FFXIV lacklustre and unfulfilling.

I am not talking about NM fights, but the grouping experience while levelling, please bear that in mind when reading this post.

My experiences with grouping with "strangers" has been absolutely fine in terms of how polite people are, however I have only managed to make friends with a handful of these people due to the fire-and-forget nature of most groups.

Behest

Behest does not last long enough and is too mobile to be able to effectively communicate with the others in your group.

People (occasionally) put up a mark on an enemy group, engage, kill, move on to the next. There are no tactics, and no communication required.

I would like to see Behest extended to last the full 30 minutes before the next one starts, be this by mobs continually spawning at a steady rate for the people on Behest, or by another method.

I'd also like to see Behest becoming more about defending the camps... Perhaps groups of mobs could attack the camp, leaving people a little more stationary and able to chat and talk about tactics while taking part.

Guild Leves

I think the problems with Behest also apply to Guild Leves. Additionally, it is often difficult to find people to Leve Link with effectively because everyone gets offered different Leves every reset.

I'd like to see everyone offered the same Leves every time they reset. This would greatly encourage people to Leve Link, and make this a lot easier to do without resorting to such tricks as I have read about which are offending certain people

Group Mechanics

Group vs Group combat (which I believe was something FFXIV was touted to be about) seems to basically involve attacking whichever mob you feel like while the healers spam their AoE heals and the tanks try their best, but often to no avail.

With the addition of the job system, I would hope to see group mechanics becoming a lot more prevalent.

Tanking and healing should become possible and challenging respectively. There should be some measure of proper buffing and debuffing taking place, and support roles should become an important aspect of the game. Crowd control during Group vs Group combat should become important, yet not a chore for the person conducting it (ie. not having to recast it very often)

Summary

In the future I would like to see measures taken in the grouping and combat mechanics to facilitate people to socialise with the people they are in a party with. The social aspect of an MMO is obviously one of the most important things, and I find it currently inhibited due to the reasons noted above.

I would even go as far as saying that the FFXI method of grouping, finding a camp, and grinding mobs at that camp was superior to the current system of little or random grouping and roaming.

Please let me know your thoughts on these matters, as I am quite sure I can't be the only person experiencing this!