F2P not working as expected. Has anyone been able to make a party without gold??

It isn't though. That is not what F2P. It is a fact that Defiance has never been F2P. And it isn't being pedantic because you are making it is a false statement.

You should stop being dishonest, It looks sad for a grown man.

I definitely think that not needing live to play F2P games would be nice but I'm sure MS has their reasoning though as running a network isn't cheap and there's other benefits to a gold account. I play a lot solo but being able to play what I want with
friends and to have a party chat going is good stuff and partly why I get gold (the free games every month is super nice too).

I think it's a F2P Korean type thing now or something. But MMOs on XBL (there aren't many) can be played without a gold subscription.

Playing online has never been free. Even if you play F2P games like Apex Legends, you will need a paid subscription (Xbox Live Gold or Xbox Game Pass Ultimate)

Has anyone else used your console? If someone else has your console set as their Home and they have Gold, you would be able access their Gold and play online.

There are also some free-to-play games that can be played without Gold.