Aurum Vale difficulty...you don't get book credit if you are dead FUN

So is it just me, or does anyone else remember this instance being easier than it is now?
I needed to clear it for one of my Curtana atma books and had quite the traumatic experience with it:

First 2 attempts using Duty Finder: other 3 members were all level 47, first time inside. Each boss took about 3 attempts to finish, and after multiple attempts at final boss it was clear it was un-winnable and people left.

Second 2 attempts going in with 2 endgame friends (a healer & brd): Almost the same level of difficulty. The first 2 bosses took a really long time to kill. The final boss continued to cause exceptional difficulty for whatever reason and took a few tries to down each time.... unfortunately BOTH times, I died a few seconds before the boss died. Being dead ,or even releasing to start, when the boss dies results in not receiving credit for the book completion.

I did manage to survive on the 5th attempt with a duty finder group full of ilvl90+ people. However, I feel like this instance may have been overlooked after so many other ones have had their difficulty adjusted. I tank in endgame, I understand the mechanics of all the fights and I am pretty sure everyone I ended up paired with did too. Thoughts peeps?

**edit** Looks like I most likely was scorned by the RNG gods and given incompetent players in duty finder. However, I've used duty roulette tons for pretty much every dungeon and never run into any problems outside of these AV runs yesterday, and a couple early Pharros Sirrus runs. In both cases I think the failures were due to the higher than usual burden placed on the healer due to debuffs on everyone at the same time.

Nope, still the same as ever. Ilevel also doesn't matter as they get level sync'd anyway.

Nope I did it recently and found it fine. But me and my group knew what to do. When 1st attempting this dungeon though it was a wipe fest xD Adds have to be AOEed down fast at final boss, people gotta clean their debuffs at 3 stacks everytime. I think it's stressful for new players.

It's actually easier than it was before because they boosted pet defence against poison and attacks and such. Did a few other things too but don't recall

I don't ever recall Aurum Vale being that hard. If people start heading the wrong direction and not follow the tank, you can pull some adds you don't want them to but either way, the last time I ran AV, no wipes, one shot all bosses. ..although i can't recall the bloody second boss really. Both first and lass boss really are the same type of boss so really if you can just know when to eat the fruit, that place is easy.

I hate Cutter`s Cry more than Aurum Vale.

The instance itself is very easy, especially after the disappearance of the latency problems in there. The problem is PLAYERS make it a horrible experience. I see quite a lot of players who are either tanks trying to grab everything in the first room, DPS not paying attention to the enemy/poison placement and getting themselves and possibly the party killed, and then of course players who don't know their rotations (but that's more of a things aren't dying fast enough thing). This dungeon tries to teach you to not do any of these things because you'll need to know what not to do after this, and unfortunately some players can't pick up on it.

I have horrible, horrible memories of that place when I tried to clear it in November. It took over a week to find a party to clear it using the DF. A the time it was the entry route to all the high level stuff and I was stymied for longer than I care to recall.

It is the only bit of the game I have vowed never to enter again.

I've had problems with Aurum Vale in DF, but after my initial clear with friends it's rarely been any kind of issue. More difficult than WP or AK for sure, but nothing unexpected ever seems to happen, except perhaps lag on the Cointcounter's 100-tonze swing.

ive been saying since 2.0 launched that AV and Dzmael Darkhold are both more challenging than any of the lvl 50 dungeons or the new HM for that matter.

the game needs more dungeons like this for the 50+ crowd. knowing that you might not one shot a dungeon makes them alot more exciting

Honestly find Stone Vigil and Aurum Vale harder than the 1st three turns of coil.

Impossible to overgear, meaning you're forced to accommodate all the mechanics built in. Stone Vigil has some nasty patrols walking around that can easily cause a wipe if you aggro them too early. Aurum Vale is easier imo, but can become a nightmare for the whole party if just one person screws up.