Am I playing the game wrong?

[Ariabeth]

The game is obscenely easy. So easy and "accessible" in fact that it has killed needing to socialize in the game. If you're a veteran player that likes to stick around and help others good luck with that, noone needs you lol. FCs are basically chat rooms because quite frankly its more of a hassle to ask people to join you on things than it takes to just use the duty finder for content you barely need to do anything to clear. It'd be different if you needed quality, trustable and reliable people from your guild to help you do anything or learn the ropes but it turns out all you need is random bodies that can sometimes move and press a couple of buttons here and there to clear everything.

And then there is savage and maybe extreme... which you don't want to do with your guild because chances are more than one person wont be up to snuff and they will all end up drifting apart or disliking each other. This game needs to be more 30% casual. 50% midcore and 20% hardcore. so thats its actually engaging to play.

Believe it or not most players want some challenge. It's no wonder the game becomes a dead wasteland after content releases dry up. There's literally no reason to stick around.

Welcome, it has always been like this! I don't know how you perceived the game in any way other than casual and friendly!
There is challenge for those who want challenge, there is social content for those who want to be social, there is grind for those who want grind.
There is something for everyone, save for that one type of person that wants to be challenged around every corner. I'm afraid FFXIV is not that, and never will- nor should be.

The game population slows down, or "becomes a dead wasteland", because players are encouraged to enjoy other things.
Some play other games, some look beyond the veil of patch:current.x to enjoy the older but still valid content, and some spend their time moping on the FFXIV General forum.