I definitely think they still need to build up some of the tutorial, but comparatively it has gotten a lot better. There was virtually nothing in the way of tutorial in the first beta event.
As for playing together, usually, if I was in an overflow server, I didn't have a problem connecting with someone else in the overflow server, and it's pretty easy to get into the overflow if it's overflowing (just zone to another area and zone back). Also, for the personal story, you can bring party mates with you, but you both have to be near that personal story point, and a dialogue box will pop up asking if you want to join your team mate in his personal story. I think his problem is that he hasn't figured out how to find his teammates, which admittedly is never really explained. It's something you have to figure out or have someone else tell you. I've honestly never had much of a problem finding my teammates unless only one of us was queued in the overflow. They have fixed it that when you zone between areas, all party members are zoned to the same area, but I gathered from the other night that they hadn't yet ensured that all party members could go to the main server at the same time. I suspect that will be fixed soon though.
Renown hearts and dynamic events do get more complicated as you move up in areas, and while there are some events that occur somewhat frequently, there are others that happen a lot less often.
