I always thought it should be harsher: abandoning a randomly-matched duty after you entered it should permanently apply to your account, so that the next penalty is even longer.

This way, if you abandoned 48 times (30 minutes x 48), the next penalty would be 1 day. If you keep abandoning duties, it eventually increases, reaching a week or more.

It could be even harsher and just double each time. 30, 60, 120, 240 minutes, etc. And it would be a permanent increase in the penalty to teach them a lesson.

Why do I feel this way? Back in Heavensward, I spent 40 MINUTES in the queue as a PLD for Steps of Faith. When I entered it, everyone abandoned because they thought it was "hard" (seriously???). It was absolutely heartbreaking to queue for that long, excited to progress the MSQ and experience the fight, and have them all just leave. It made me feel like if I can't progress the MSQ then I can't really play... it was soul crushing.

I spent about an hour picking myself up from how crushing it was and trying one more time. Again I queued for 40 minutes as a PLD. This time, I knew everyone would leave, so I typed a message in advance to beg them to stay. By the time I was able to send the message, there were only 3 people who saw it before they left, and they decided to stay and help me. We waited for quite a while for it to refill (many of the refillers also abandoned, which is sad).

And guess what, it was easy. They were actually afraid of this thing that was literally a joke at the time I did it (I'd resumed MSQ a while after HW released).

In my entire time playing, with over 10k dungeons and commendations, I've never abandoned a duty including ones I dread (obviously I've disconnected, but that's different).