I signed up to the forums for the soul purpose of posting in this thread. I'm one of those new players (arrived after 1.18) and could not agree more on this here improvement to party seeking.
We play MMO's to interact with other players, and as it stands right now its really hard to find a party and i think its limiting new player experience.

If I didnt already have a linkshell lined up from friends I played FFXI with it'd be pretty lonely at times and a long fustrating solo grind.