Doing Castrum and Praetorium for the first time

Greetings y'all!

While I know Im not posting on my tank, my Warrior is about two levels from 50 and quickly approaching Castrum and Praetorium. Now, I've been watching guides to learn whats what...but that's not the part that's worrying me.

The speed running is whats worrying more then the boss fights themselves. I fear, as a new tank, my range of "forgiveness" is much less then that of the healer/DDs in an 8am. And I worry about the possible backlash if I dont keep up.

Any suggestions on how I can stay with the group and not set off any tempers?

People don't mind newbies anymore because they get 100 bonus myth for completing the instance with you. It's very likely that the other tank will be experienced, so simply follow their lead. If you tell them you are new, most will give you instructions. If both tanks are new (rare but not unheard of), someone in the group will have to guide you both and the run will have to be on the slow side due to your gear. There's no real way around it; trying to do a full speed run with i50 tanks won't go very well. :3

Those two dungeons can mostly be solo tanked. If you want to understand what's going on, you'll have to make a PF group.

If you just want a clear, then go in, skip all the cutscenes, follow everyone, and let the other tank do everything. There are a couple parts where adds spawn ... pick those up as OT. And that's about it; experienced players can cover for everything else. If the other tank is willing to show you things, then you can learn what you're supposed to do (like skipping certain sets of mobs or pulling mobs to the cannons and stunning them before they destroy the cannons).

If people get mad because you're new, tell them to earn their myth bonus and help out. You should never worry about upsetting people who demand a speedrun with a DF pug; they're in the wrong queue with that attitude.
If they harass you and won't stop, vote kick them from the party. Assert yourself and keep people in line so the team functions. Those tank skills are useful in any dungeon. :)

Yea the last two can be solo tanked easily, when I go nd the 2nd tank is new I'll usual ask if they know the pulls for the giants and trash mobs and if not I'll usually take em with me. If your unsure of the pulls I would just ask the group for help tips

Prae has a lot of cutscenes. About 30 minutes worth. Most likely you will either need to skip them to keep up or miss all the fights to watch them. This isn't the players' fault. It's just really bad design on the devs. Groups I get paired with really enjoy helping a new player. I usually tank these dungeons and if the other tank is new I'll ask if he wants to MT the boss fights. If he dies I'll pick it up until he can provoke it off again. I have a lot of fun teaching these dungeons to new players. Good luck and congrats on beating the game.

Ask your FC/LS for help, and/or use the Party Finder to create a group specifically for your first time to enjoy the CS'. It is a fantastic part to the story, and should not be missed in order for some people to quickly get their mythology. You will have a lot more fun this way, and there will be next to no stress as far as speedrunning is concerned.

If you can't/don't want to do that, just follow along and hope for the best.

Once you know the fight, Pretorium for Tank is 100% vanilla tanking so nothing special to learn. Of the overall duty, the only thing to remember is keep the good CD for when the ship crashes on your head without the need to move. It is a 1 tank duty so the 2nd tank better switch to full str accessory and join the dps side.

Castrum is more interesting, needs some coordination between tanks to lure the colossus and vanguards, while boss fights are 2-tank setup with one on boss and the other on adds. It is much better have the new tank on main boss, because on some fights adds are able to kill healers easily if healer not overgeared, thus the experienced tank on adds.

With the tomes rewards for new player, people got more calm and patient. Just say you are new at start, much better than keep silent and then group notices you are new anyway, on some key moments of fight.

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Originally Posted by Clavaat

Ask your FC/LS for help, and/or use the Party Finder to create a group specifically for your first time to enjoy the CS'. It is a fantastic part to the story, and should not be missed in order for some people to quickly get their mythology. You will have a lot more fun this way, and there will be next to no stress as far as speedrunning is concerned.

If you can't/don't want to do that, just follow along and hope for the best.

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Since the bonus myth was added, I've actually run with several tanks that let the newbies watch CS.

The rest of us stood around and BS'ed, mostly. It was wonderfully refreshing. :3

I can understand how you feel, I have those dungeons coming up next myself. If it helps any, think about the new and exciting things we can do after those two runs. I'm more excited about getting a magitek mount more than anything! lol :p

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Originally Posted by repoe

Yea the last two can be solo tanked easily, when I go nd the 2nd tank is new I'll usual ask if they know the pulls for the giants and trash mobs and if not I'll usually take em with me. If your unsure of the pulls I would just ask the group for help tips

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Yes it can be solo tanked easily in ilvl60-70+. But w/ 2 fresh 50 tanks with pinks and whites still will have trouble for sure. Prae not so much, but CM because of adds.

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Originally Posted by Ashkendor

Since the bonus myth was added, I've actually run with several tanks that let the newbies watch CS.

The rest of us stood around and BS'ed, mostly. It was wonderfully refreshing. :3

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Glad to hear it. Hopefully, OP's experience could be the same. Either way, safest bet is to still make your own group, I feel.

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Originally Posted by Clavaat

Glad to hear it. Hopefully, OP's experience could be the same. Either way, safest bet is to still make your own group, I feel.

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Yeah, definitely; you can't count on it. We actually did a party for this in a linkshell that I'm in. One of the people in it had three friends that all needed CM and Praetorium for the main scenario and wanted to watch all the cutscenes. Some of the party enabled theirs as they'd never seen them in context before, but only watched them in the inn. Afterward, several people expressed that they wish they had been able to watch them in the dungeon their first time through as watching them in the inn just isn't the same.

I would just make a party finder group so that everyone wouldn't mind watching the cutscenes if that is something that really bugs you. It sucks that you would have to do that and it should be the otherway around what are you gonna do.