Ugh... reading some of these posts, along with the OPs suggestion reminds me of how horrible it was during the first several months. FATE groups trying to be fully efficient by leaving active FATEs once they hit a likely gold status, which after 20+ people participated, left a couple people to die to the remaining FATE that's been buffed to cater to a much larger crowd. It was really stupid to watch in some cases. Some groups went to such extremes that they'd leave every single FATE... then just wait by the Aetheryte until they all failed. Standing around idling for 5+ minutes isn't exactly what I'd call being efficient when it comes to exp grinds.

I think I'm gonna skip the rush completely if it turns out to be like that again. Just gonna level up crafting and gathering. Maybe level other stuff during off hours and through any daily bonus dungeons there may be. Maybe even try to find traditional exp party spots, assuming there are any decent ones.