Adding risk to the game?

[Zfz]

I don't mind PVP being in the game, but keep it instanced or in special zones in the world outside of PVE quest locations or make it where all parties have to agree to participate.

Indeed. One theme I notice, also, is that often a lot of advocates for open world PvP just want to prey on people not interested in PvP. They always back off when the flow of the conversation takes a turn towards separating players into PvP realms where open world PvP is permanently enabled, and PvE realms where there is absolutely no open world PvP, not even the possibility to opt-in. Server transfers are allowed from PvP to PvE realms, but not the other way. And the reason for backing off is always, without an exception, that "too little people would go to the PvP realm."

Essentially, they know people don't like open world PvP, yet they want it added for their own satisfaction and force everybody else to join in---obviously as prey.

Of course, there are also some who are really looking to test their mettle against skilled opponents. But more often than not, those people also realize that they can't order steak in a coffee shop and are already getting their share of PvP thrill in games that are designed for PvP.

In the end open world PvP just doesn't go well in an RPG setting that relies on levels (of both character and gear) to determine strength. The end result is always high level players griefing low level players, raising the barrier of entry for new players and killing the game eventually.

The idea of a player-regulated open-world PvP scene where "police players" hunt those griefers is also a fantasy because there will never be enough police players to make a real difference.

The FFXIV design is about providing a leisurely experience to the vast majority of players, with some element of challenging content to entice the top few percentage of those players. Inevitably, mechanisms that cause the player to lose out for no fault of their own are seen as bad design, hence open world PvP simply doesn't fit with FFXIV.