Hello Yoshi-P, this is a long question so it has been broken into two.
This question may be difficult to get across, but here it is:
Currently, it is hard for new and veteran groups to find new members who are willing to try the raiding aspect of ffxiv, and perhaps it is because they may be scared away when they hear how unforgiving raid content is.
While not everybody will enjoy challenging content, nor have the time commitment to, I am afraid that players are scared away before even trying, even though it is such a big portion of content of ffxiv. Maybe after trying, a portion of these players (even if it's a minority) will discover how fun and exciting challenging content is, especially when information on mechanics are still not discovered yet.
With the introduction of normal and hard modes of alexander, I am afraid that even more players (especially new players) may be scared away from trying the hard modes, since normal modes also offers the same access to the storyline.