Murd hit the nail on the head for me - it all comes down to whether or not you have someone to start with you. When you're on your own - especially in a game that was released some time ago - it's hard to get your head around the idea of joining parties with strangers and actually enjoying their company. To have a friend to communicate from the get-go means that you can always have someone, and that made the difference for me when I started playing with Danielle and Lev. I'm hoping that when FFXIV is released, we all get onto the same server somehow.