Having issues making friends in-game. Am I missing something?

[KageTokage]

You need to ask a mentor for an invite to the Novice Network specifically. They're searchable in Player Search using those different crown icons.

As far as hunts go, they're generally considered "endgame" content for their respective expansions, but people will still appreciate call-outs for their locations if you see them and have a channel to relay them to; particularly the S ranks (Which are huge and noted with a system message saying "You sense the presence of a powerful mark..."). The bulk of playerbase likes to treat them as a community activity, though some people would rather just fight the weaker ones solo.

[Arcadious]

Thanks for the information KageTokage, I'll look into joining that.