Seems like a bit of an issue...

Hey everyone, I don't frequent the forums that often, and I've just returned to the game after a few months away, but I've come across something that seems concerning to me.

I like to do dungeons from time to time and today I decided to try one out that I haven't been to yet. So I fired up the duty finder and attempted to join it. So of course, I need to wait a bit and it estimated a 5 minute wait. Good, I can do that. 45 minutes passed by and not a single other player had been queued up with me! What has me worried of course is that the story itself requires some dungeons to be completed, but if the population of players aren't doing certain dungeons, I'm wondering if that could be an issue that could prevent someone from completing the game.

Sorry, I'm just curious. Is this an issue? Do a lot of players not bother with dungeons or did I maybe just try joining at a bad time?

Its really more of an estimation time as a tank or healer.. roll one and you wont have these issues

It depends a lot on the dungeon, the time of day, etc. If you consistently aren't getting in, maybe set up a Party Finder?

So in other words, if you're a DPS, you're screwed?

DPS will naturally have longer wait times (because the DPS population is MUCH higher than Tanks or Healers) but I wouldn't say "screwed" by any means.

I find it varies depending on the day and what time it is, if it's say 6pm on a weekday then I can sometimes get a Duty pop in about 10-15 seconds! (Fastest time was literally .5 seconds, not even joking xD) Other times it's mostly 4-5 minutes when it's quiet and depending on what dungeons I've selected.

Some of the runs just don't get run very often over-all. Cape Westwind is a prime example. First 8-person Trial; no loot; needed to advance the story; but no HM or XM versions after, which it could be considered a "builder" run.

Some don't appear to have to be run, if you're not interested in GC advancement. DD and AV come to mind. I haven't done either of them; and I'm not sure I ever will. Maybe if I am feeling good, and also somewhat bored... later :)

Yah the average wait time takes tanks/healers into account so your 45 min wait gets balanced with the tank's instaqueue making the average 23 minutes. Don't fret by the way if you don't see anyone else being paired with you. It seems the Duty Finder doesn't like to put together parties without a tank first. Pretty much the only time I've seen more than myself in that window as a DPS that weren't tanks was when a tank would withdraw from queue. Usually once a tank enters queue and you're at the top of the DPS pile the party instantly forms up.

Tank is the faster queue time. If you never want to wait for dungeons roll one. Only infrequently have I had to wait for roulette (mostly on guildhest queues).

I like heals and DPS too but if you want a tank to mark and tab between targets it's best to take the role yourself.

Well I've never been much of a tank fan, I find the abilities and whatnot a bit boring.

I'm going to try and get through the story with my summoner and see what happens. Thankfully, one of my friends just picked tup he game and created a healer so I figure if I have any troubles getting into dungeons, having him in a party will help.

You can craft, go fishing, do Hunting / Challenge Logs etc. I made a good amount of gil just crafting and selling stuff while waiting for my queue times.