What a wonderful take on something that seems to be such a growing trend in MMO's. I think that's one of the reasons that I loved Final Fantasy XI so much. Yes, the game was a grind-fest. And yes, soloing wasn't a viable option during the early years. This forced you to find a group, meet new people, and slowly make your way through all the content and locales throughout the game. It was through that process that I made many of my friends that traveled with me from level 20 through 75. Even after 60 days of playtime I still had not reached the level cap and experienced the massive amounts of end game content available. The majority of that was spent meeting new players or exploring the world with my guildmates.

I think it's because of that experience that every other MMO I have tried has been lackluster, because I have not found the community feel that I had there. I hope that a game rolls out that encourages and even builds that type of environment into its core mechanics.