Don't join a large FC if you want to meet friends. You'll get lost and forgotten, an easy example being your own experience. All the friends I made in FF14 were from joining LFGs for dungeons, Primals, etc. One of the closest friends I made was actually way early on in Duty Finder Amdapor Keep - you ask them if they're on your server, you talk to them, send them a friend request, run dungeons together... it's the same as making friends irl, really. I'd suggest joining friendly Linkshells rather than an FC - you'll meet more people and won't be committed to one group. Just try to be confident, don't let that FC represent all others.