If you're looking to talk to people and meet people, the best in-game places are either the endgame hub of the current expansion, or Limsa Lominsa, which is everyone's favorite base city because of how its laid out.Yeah a few things got locked behind early story missions, but you could join LS/FC as early as you first created a character.
I asked in a few communities but since I got no response, I think most are just doing things in their own FC and not really interested in managing additional LSes. Oh well.
I find it difficult to make new friends in modern MMOs, most people I run into from duty finder aren't even on the same server most of the time, and the open world is basically empty.
Another decent way to talk to people is to find Party Finder groups of people planning to do a large amount of content. E.g., rerunning a primal to get a mount, or finishing all 12 levels of the 8-man raids. I've made a handful of friends from doing that.