It had better stand. People who are new to the game deserve the chance to play without a bunch of people with all level 50s and those who would control the economy with their massive head start. Please do not forget that one of the biggest mistakes made with FFXI was releasing it in Japan an entire year earlier and then throwing all the new players on the same servers, just because it happened 10 years ago.

If you want to play with friends then either start a new character yourself or have them start on your Legacy server.