This is coming from someone who only uses XIV as a glorified chatroom until more group based content is released but if you are enjoying the game and have friends who are more like you then the people you see complaining on Core then go ahead, reel them in. The game is f2p until its suitable anyway and content and huge changes will be dropping like crazy over the summer so you'll be getting hit with it patch after patch.

As for the current state of the game, i enjoy it alot I just have a very stubburn attitude when it comes to soloing. If I have to solo I will not play. this applies to any and all online games and even though i've played XI since NA release there has been occasions where i would cancel my sub for a few months because i was forced to solo ormy friends stopped playing for awhile.

Summary: Tell your friends to come on down to Eorzea and you all have a great time, if you happen to top out your level quickly there is more content on the way so you won't have to wait half as long as everyone here has.