I do not believe it was the difficulty of the content itself, but rather the need to build a stable network of players in order to achieve anything in those games that made the community bonded. I know the debate about the Duty Finder content is old, so I won't get into it, but what we have to give up for the convenience of being able to do anything at anytime, is the strong network of players that used to develop through necessity, and the decency and cooperation that is required to strengthen that network. The current system attracts more players, but many of which do not share the same desire to reach out to their fellow gamers because they can replace a party member and have a new one queued up within minutes. Basically, we've begun to view each other as disposable units so there is no need for civility and courtesy for the most part.

Even in FFXIV 1.0, there was a strong community and bond that formed because there was no Duty Finder. Sorry for short posts, forum limitation.