Ahh yes, the ol' party, local, or group question X3
Personally, I prefer RPing in local apposed to party or group just so everyone around can watch or join in if they want. I'm always open for people joining in~
As for RPing in party, it's very handy if there are people around and you don't want to bother. However, I do see often that party is used to not attract some newbies to the roleplay when you and your friend just want to have a fun RP with each other, or, to simply "keep local clean." I understand the reasoning behind not wanting to have a newer RPer try to jump in, because, how can you tell them nicely that you don't want to RP with them, or that how they RP just doesn't match up? It's a rather difficult thing to do to those kids who just want to join in.
For me personally, I don't like RPing in group chat X'3 Tat's just me pff. I like to see group chat as, well, your group's chat! A place where you and your group can chat with each other while either waiting your turn to post, watching the RP, or, just to chat =3
I noticed this, too! I thought that that was odd, like everyone suddenly switched to group & party chats. I, honestly, really dislike it. I used to like walking up to people & being able to kind of jump into role-play (if I asked politely OOC first before doing so!) Now, you can't really do that too much. One of the things I like about Feral-Heart is the "open world" aspect of it, & being able to walk up & talk to whoever. I thought it kept things interesting. Even when I was in a group, I enjoyed when people outside of that would randomly walk up & join in on the fun.
I guess, it's really not that big of a deal to me, to be honest. But if I had to choose party or group, I'd most likely choose group. Just because you can read along & know what's going on OOC, even if you're not role-playing yourself.