Quote Originally Posted by Elephantality View Post
Well, I'm going through it normally, and I'm still in Stormblood, and I can't play with my friends yet. It's a bit frustrating, so I can understand their plight. I've been at this for a year. Now I'm going to take quite a break.

Your friends can play with you just fine even if you can't access all the content they can do yet. They can always do your content with you while you unlock more.