Oh yeah, I know it's a horrible philosophy to have in a game like this, especially in its more competitive aspects. But, it's the path they've decided to pursue.

We've seen plenty of times in the past how a game grows more and more competitive the less players are in a team. To use an off-genre example, Overwatch (2) and TF2 are very similar games on a fundamental level, but while OW2 is only a 5v5 experience, TF2 can be anywhere from 8v8, to 16v16, to even 50v50 recently. Probably as a direct result of this (and the development of maps/gamemodes around it), OW2 is a much more competitive experience, while TF2 is a much more casual 'pick up and play' one. The less players a team has, the more of an impact any one team member has, requiring more of a competitive mindset for any one game to be a victory.

This can be seen in WoW as well, where Arenas (2v2 or 3v3) are considered one of the game's endgames, being engaging with a very high skill ceiling, while battlegrounds (10v10 or 15v15) are much more casual, and thus see much more players.

It's different in WoW, though, because in that game you're almost encouraged to scrutinize your team for under-performing (to a certain degree, can't be overly toxic or slur at them, which is understandable), which has allowed the game to even develop an esport around their arena scene (whether or not this was good for the game is a different discussion). Entire guilds and communities exist for the sole purpose of picking apart other people's PvP performance, and the skill floor and ceiling have risen significantly because of it. Dare I say, WoW's arenas are engaging, skill based endeavors.

This cannot exist in FFXIV with their current philosophy on intraplayer interaction. One person can destroy a 5v5 game wholly, but you just kind of have to suck it up. You can't kick someone for being bad and expect a replacement like you would in a WoW Battleground, you have to suffer with the 1-bot until the end.

I don't know what kool-aid the people at SE are drinking, but maybe they should ask Blizzard for their recipe some time...