I am still mixed, but less pessimistic than I was.
The "solo" play was an expectation, previous interviews from like 2014 suggested that if they were to do Blue Mage, that's what they'd do.
But the fact you can do premades could be a fair pay off. It looks like they want to go full out on a proper Blue Mage experience, but recognise the draw backs of doing that. It looks like they've taken some cues from FFXI on how to manage it and I loved my FFXI BLU. So I expect the job itself will be good fun to play and I'd still be able to do content with friends on it and possibly party finder. I just can't queue. I figure at least with a premade people consent to the state of the BLU in their party, so it's not impeding on anybody. But my concern is in how it plays out for content and how it grows.

For me it'll be wait and see, I love Blue Mage, I have wanted this for ages. I am glad it is a real Blue Mage, I just hope it doesn't get shafted.