Casturm Merdidiam/The preatorium need to change or go.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MistakeNot

Congratulations on making thread #10,000 on this exact issue and with the exact same complaints as all the 9999 threads before.
Yes, we know. Yes, we all agree that the problems mentioned are indeed problems.

Considering that this has been a problem since approximately the day after the very first group made it through those instances, and that SE still haven't changed them despite complaints ever since - I very much doubt anything will change this time either.

---

And yet this is a problem that isn't going away...and until its address'd..it will continue to be raised again...and again..and again.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rufalus

or completely overhaul the glamor system (coming early 2018).

---

a bit off-topic, but overhaul the glamour system? I hope you mean they're making it as a COLLECTION system like WoW's Transmog. Please?

Anyways, back on topic... yes, it's a problem that needs fixed. Not swept under the rug, it needs Fixed.

It leaves a very bad impression on a new player, and speedrunners don't like seeing newbies in the instance because of the delays. It would be mutually beneficial to both parties if we would just fix the problem instead of letting it fester, and fester and fester while hate flies in both directions.

But how to fix the problem, is probably what some of the holdup is. They want to keep it epic, but yet they want people to enjoy the changes.

Perhaps instead of getting rid of the dungeon entirely, they could make tweaks that would add compromises that would allow both groups of people to coexist.

One easy "fix" that wouldn't require rewriting the whole dungeon would be this:

When a player unlocks it, they are not able to queue for it unless they have a pre-made party (it can be undersized)
That player, upon unlocking Castrum Meridiam, is automatically invited to NN and a short description of NN and how it can be used to ask for help finding people for this dungeon, is provided.

Eh.... Personally I’d rather it stay the way it is than have that happen. I’m incredibly shy and hesitant to just throw myself out there to ask for help. I know that’s my issue to work on/deal with, but if that has been the case when I got to that point in the game, it likely would have been the end of me playing the game. I’d rather the requirement to use party finder finder stay at higher tier content.

Yeah, I can't say that forced PF is a good idea either.

They just need to do stuff like get rid of the individual key requirements (let EVERYBODY mount the magitek armor if ONE person picks up the key, like every frikken other dungeon objective in the game, ever has done), put fewer aggressive mobs in that players won't get hung up on or feel rushed to kill, and add barriers blocking players from engaging bosses without everybody present (but ONLY if the newbie bonus is active).

Perhaps increase the newbie bonus by a significant amount, and make cutscenes non-skippable, and make the elevators so that they cannot be activated while in combat (forcing players kill the mobs first), but again only while Newbie Bonus is in effect (which allows for speedruns when there are no newbies).

Given that newbies aren't around that often, this shouldn't be a huge impact.

I honestly can't remember any significant cutscenes from castrum meridianum... but you could do this with the rest:

Make Praetorium a solo instance with Gaius as the last boss and perhaps cut out a few areas to keep it short (The magitek part / iron giant boss) - rather than having work arounds for the dungeon, remove the dungeon entirely so people can enjoy it at their own leisure.
Make Ultima Weapon a Trial.
Follow up with a solo instance vs Lahabrea to wrap up the story.

I'm not sure if this would skew any cutscenes inbetween duties, though.

This dungeon is supposed to be the "climax" of ARR - the pinnacle of the main campaign prior to the spool up for HW and SB. - To see newbies get ran over like a mack truck hitting road kill isn't going to help the impression over all.

Making it solo-able would be good - but forced party mode? No - don't do that. - I'm inclined with the NPC Party solution and making the main dungeon bosses a trial instead.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by NephthysVasudan

This dungeon is supposed to be the "climax" of ARR - the pinnacle of the main campaign prior to the spool up for HW and SB. - To see newbies get ran over like a mack truck hitting road kill isn't going to help the impression over all.

---

True, but IF you run it with a nice group which waits for all cutscenes then both Castrum Meridanium and (even more so) Praetorium are awesome dungeons.
That is probably part of why they haven't been changed - if the dungeons are run as intended they are really good and the devs don't want to risk ruining that.

For speedrunners the dungeons are also good - quick Exp for minimal effort.

The trouble don't start until you mix speedrunners and newbies.

Tbh I have duo'd both these dungeons, soloed specific fights as an under-geared but fully leveled whm sometime back, when a friend needed them. They're great dungeons with some awesome cutscenes if you're into the story. I wouldn't want to get rid of them. All a new player would need to experience this is a good group of friends willing to take them through both dungeons, and they can go in unsync'd with a partial party.

Ok, my previous comment wasn't well thought out.

But at the very least a warning to first-timers that the dungeons have a lot of cutscenes and a strong recommendation (not requirement, just a strongly-worded recommendation) to go with people you know or ask for help in the Novice Network with the option to join if they're not already in it.