Why?

[Daeriion_Aeradiir]

What job were you? While its your choice to join a party or not, if you chose not to, you'll want to gear out and roll a tank to high level fates like ixion, as FATE contribution is based on enmity, rather than dps. Tanks can generate TONS more enmity than dps can ever generate it through aggro combo spams.

If you were on a tank, then either the fate was very populated, as the more people involved with the fate, the harder it becomes to get gold as your contribution is compared to against every other person/party there in the FATE, or if there was a minimal amount of people there, either you didn't generate enough enmity to earn higher than bronze, or if you didn't even receive bronze at all the game could have glitched.

For Ixion, getting higher than bronze is insanely tough solo, and joining a party is near-mandatory if rewards are what you want.