When I started, I thought the community was friendler, more open and welcoming and less toxic than others because of things like mentor system, novice network, commendations, FC housing, people generally greeting each other in party chat, new player notifications in dungeons, no expectation to watch guides etc.
I thought it breeds a more close-knit community where you can learn and improve at your own pace with the main source for help and improvement being other players.

Over the years I noticed the friendliness to be a very shallow one and the FFXIV feeling very clique-y. Little is said openly, escpecially with the ToS getting stricter, giving the GMs the option to ban people for a myriad of reasons but a lot is said behind closed doors. Been in various FCs and it was always the same story: if you weren't already part of a group it was difficult to impossible to be part of a group. Escpecially newer players have a really hard time because of all the "cool kids gangs" that are friendly enough but won't let anyone be part of their inner circle.
The lack of expectations and aversion against advice and constructive criticism didn't lead to an overall more pleasent and relaxed experience. On the contrary, I came to dislike this constant tip-toeing around glaring issues or the lack of respect for each other's time with "my fun" often being the excuse. It's almost as if there is an underlying "anti-improvement" and "anti-effort" mentality here which I have never seen in any MMO. It's really odd what kind of things get defended and how quickly you get shunned for suggesting something even if it's vital for the group's success (not talking about minor rotation mistakes here).

DF is a mixed bag where I met some really nice and helpful players and others that are so hilariously bad and toxic on top of that that it really left me speechless.
PF is... interesting. It's great tool for people without statics and the way it works with various tags, seeing which classes are already present, being able to write strats in the comment etc. is great and makes finding a group for you really easy.
A lot of people join who are clearly not ready for endgame content but unfortunately, they rarely get told so because it might start an argument and someone could get banned for it. Once the player got booted I've heard a lot of nasty things about them.
It can be frustrating hopping from one party to the next because of the influx of players tackling savage while still lacking vital knowledge about the fights and their class but at least it's possible to clear without a static and that's really good! And over time, you get to know plenty of people who do a good job, get invited to linkshells or discords and have ways to minimize the times you spent hours over hours wiping on the same boss to get a reclear.

It's a fun game to play and the community isn't bad just odd when it comes to certain topics.
From the time I started to now I felt a bit disappointed with the community but that has long passed and really, I should've known better than to expect a somehow miraculously superior community.
Humans are humans after all.