Y'know I'm curious about what the people who complain about cliques envision as the perfect "social VR experience".

Is the ideal for everyone to just spontaneously meet exclusively through thread-dropped links and never interact outside of said links or form any bonds?

The loud 40+ person drinking weekend night meetups are their own beast and definitely not everyone's cup of tea (I'm certainly not fond of them). But there's always smaller groups you can slide into at different times of the day/week which are substantially less overwhelming for those who easily get anxious.