I guess it depends how cynical a person is or not. I've met plenty of friends not only in this game, but other online games as well. If i wanted to play a single player game, i'd play a console RPG. I've made really good friends in online communities to the point that we share emails and even phone numbers. We talk on skype and we know what the other person looks like.
I'm not fond of people that play MMOs just to solo thier entire way through but I guess I have more faith in society than others. Yes i've met friends but you're find that anywhere.
It's a game just like any other. FFXI was more party play and a lot of people enjoyed that (like me). WoW was also a game that was more solo-friendly and a lot of people enjoyed that (some of my friends were obsessed with it). Does it make one any better or worse as a game in general? Not really, since they were both very successful. In that same sense, RO is also a game. It has several maps that are solo friendly and several where it was better to party in.
The GMs in charge of the classic server wants to make more of the high end maps to be more party friendly and I can understand why. This doesn't necessarily mean I haven't met my share of idiots. As such, with most of my characters, I actually prefer to solo when playing RO. Doesn't mean I can't understand where the GMs are coming from.
It's a shame that you (Onis), your BF and his friend quit FFXI but I'm sure you all had your reasons. Maybe because you guys already had people you knew in real life that you usually played with and preferred to keep it that way, FFXI wasn't your "cup of tea." That doesn't mean that there aren't a lot of people in the world that are usually too shy in person that wouldn't prefer to play together with others. Like Tetsamaru, I've made friends in various places around the world, and some even nearby that I had met online first but this doesn't make the friends I made by meeting in person have less of a value to me. But because of the people I've met online, I can go to places like the Netherlands, Sweden, Japan, or the Philippines (to name a few) and know that I have friends there who can help me if I were to get lost or something. The social aspect is the biggest appeal of an MMO game to me. But if you've noticed, this is my opinion and not really shared by everyone.