Here's the thing though: If EQs are available at all times, people are going to get tired of content far more easily, since people don't play this type of game for excessive repetition (i.e. running the same EQ a couple times a day vs. running the same LQ tens to hundreds of times a day). Add onto that the fact that PSO2 is significantly faster paced than PSO and PSU, burning out happens just as quickly.
And it's funny you should mention immersion, since having "scheduled" EQs completely ruins immersion to begin with.
While I agree with this, it doesn't mean your average Japanese PSO2 player is going to be stressing over getting EQs in. Based on general in-game activity, most players are on until around midnight JST, give or take an hour for dailies. There aren't too many people on for early morning EQs, meaning normal people tend to skip over that.
On a side note, gaming in Japan is very mobile, so it wouldn't be hard to imagine people getting in the afternoon EQs during a lunch break if they actually cared enough.
Going back to OP's original question, there are two main reasons people play PSO2: equipment and fashion. Most of the best equipment is gated behind EQs, so most people just wait for those. But as I mentioned, people will burn out quickly if you put good equipment in a quest that anyone can run at any time. A good example being the current Limited Time Quest; it gives fodder required for making ★15 weapons. I played the 2 LQs like crazy when they first came out last month, but now I don't have the motivation to even open up the game anymore (save for buying stuff from the current AC scratch because fashion).
You're definitely going to have to find an active group if you want to run content outside of EQs, but from personal experience, people have been gradually leaving PSO2 due to the direction the game has been going in. As Nightfall said, if you don't have the time to be waiting for EQs (or can't build your schedule around a few), then getting back into the game into the game will probably be difficult, if not pointless.
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