Pardon my selective quotes…
Quote Originally Posted by HailZenberg View Post
I think the one thing that is difficult to convey, in the case of a game like EQ1, was that you were part of a team, that had grown and bonded together through time and challenges.
Even when my role in a boss fight was limited in time (say as 3rd tank in a tank rotation) I was always enjoying the raids because the stakes were high, the people I was raiding with were mates who I cared for. You wanted to make sure you did everything you could for the success of your team and the feeling of accomplishment was amazing. I was never bored.
Quote Originally Posted by Viridiana View Post
I've seen all of that happen in XIV, even though it's more mechanics-oriented, though.
1) You can't tell me that static groups don't grow together as a team. That's practically the point of a static team.
2) I've seen and heard of raids and dungeons being saved after the **** hits the fan by people improvising and saving the day. Heck, I've been the one improvising before. . .
3) I'm pretty sure the people in my FC feel a sense of accomplishment progressing to where we have in raiding. We don't have T5 down yet, but each time a new turn's been completed, I've seen everyone getting excited to push on.
On point #1 - I haven’t needed a static group for anything yet. You can pretty much solo everything except dungeons. So groups in general and static groups have been seriously de-emphasized, until the very endgame. In older MMOs you either couldn’t solo level, or it was very hard - so building relationships was part of the game… not something you had to figure out just before the final bit of content.

My issue on the 2nd and 3rd points is that there’s no risk… and no worries about epic failure (just try again in a few seconds). Improvising and success are great, but it’s different when there’s greater risk. Loss of XP or levels, a long run back, and herding cats made you make sure you had a reliable group who brought their A-game. Because those downsides weren’t terribly ‘fun’ you did everything you could to be absolutely prepared. I think that also mode those communities better than the superficial interactions that can get you through everything except X modes and T5