I've seen quite some people give up in the 2.X slog. I'm also always weary of suggesting the game for friends because I know what expects them, and I know that I can't help them nor play with them like you would expect out of a MMO. The max I can do is queue with them for the new story dungeons and maybe do some palace of the dead (that in the end of the day doesn't really matter because it won't help them progress to unlock new things) but even so, the huge chunky of the game they're going to do on their own and that's not... fun. Everytime I invite someone to play FFXIV I have to give them a lot of warnings about these problems and people just lose their interest.

I hope that Square Enix has some solution in mind or is working on one besides jump potions because as the years go and you get new expacs, quests and content in general, this problem will just be worse.