Quote Originally Posted by Bishop81 View Post
Difficulty is independent of whether the entire group takes the fall for the failings of a few or it's just the individuals that fail that get punished - e.g. Bloodborne, a single player game, has no "group" at all and is in no way easy.
Except FFXIV is an MMORPG; not a single player game. The kinds of mechanics and balancing that goes into single player games is totally different, because the world centers around one player.

Quote Originally Posted by Bishop81 View Post
Ideally group content should allow players to help one another achieve their objectives but not allow one another to "get in the way" of each other's objective, either intentionally or unintentionally.
How exactly do you propose SE goes about doing that?

If a player has the ability to positively impact the group's activity by doing something (e.g. finishing a task faster), then they have the ability to negatively impact it by not doing it. (e.g. causing a task to take longer than it could have taken)

The only way for a player to not get in the way of something is if they have no power or involvement at all. (i.e. They are only a spectator)