Before I start I just wanna preface this and say that I mean no offense or hate or anything with anything I say. If you really love DR, I'm happy for you. I am a solo slooper, which after reading many forum posts about the DR is a pretty big red flag and often any criticism they give can be instantly dismissed because this is a teamwork-oriented game and DR is meant to be the most challenging region.
I agree with all of that, I am perfectly okay with DR being out of reach for the average solo player.
I have an incredibly tough time in that area and most of it I can say is from a lack of knowledge about the mechanics and being a solo pirate, but I really find it hard to believe that DR is any fun. I love a good challenge, I'm not asking for any handouts here but it seems like even with a full 4-man crew, DR is mostly just bullsh*t or boredom.
Let me elaborate with a description what I assume is the meta strategy for a 4-man crew doing a voyage in DR looks like and someone can tell me how accurate it is. Basically it seems like it boils down to the crew pairing off and 2 people go onto the island while the other 2 stay on the ship and either constantly circle the island and repair the ship when it is inevitably hit by a heat-seeking rock (bullsh*t) or they sail out of range of the volcano and wait (boredom). Do I have that about right? Sure, this requires more coordination and thus is more challenging, but is it any fun? I feel like it cannot possibly be fun for anyone staying back on the ship and for the people on the island, its just a normal voyage with a few more obstacles to overcome.