Quote Originally Posted by LunaFaye View Post
You can call it whatever you want, at the end it still forces you (your word choice not mine) adapting a specific play style that you might not agree with, or wouldn't chose if there were an other option. I yet have to see the "hard" content you're speaking off and let's not list stuff that has been nerfed to the ground, that clearly doesn't fall under hard content.
Presumably ex primals, Ministrel's Ballad, and Savage raids are still difficult when released and encourage taking people you know and trust rather than just pugging with randoms and hoping for the best. I could be wrong, but Palace of the Dead seems like it has that potential at higher floors as well. If it's nerfed later, that's not important. No content remains difficult forever. Let's not get too fixated though on what in this game is difficult or how difficult it is though, as it would be horribly wrong to think that's required to make friends or socialize with people in this game. Difficult content is a solid opportunity to make friends, but by no means a requirement.


However, I chose the word "forced" rather carefully and meant it in a very straightforward fashion. The OP seems to want a game design that, in their eyes, will demand people make friends to accomplish anything, based in part on a fatally flawed understanding of what sort of things are required for friendship. The reality is that no game can force you to make friends. It can, at best, provide you with opportunities to do so, and FFXIV has those opportunities in abundance. If people feel their social experience is lacking, then reach out to others. Join a free company or a different free company; talk more in your linkshells; interact with random people you encounter. There is an endless number of ways to interact with others and even make friends if people simply take the initiative to do so. If people aren't willing to do that, then there's nothing Square Enix or any other developer can do to fix that.