Those last two dungeons of the base storyline

I'm a new player who finally got his first character to level 50. I was excited to experience the conclusion of the main story line and sat down last night with time to do the last leg of the quests.

Things were fine until I hit Castrum Meridianum. After letting them know I was new, I watched the first movie. Things went fine until the movie before the first boss. A couple seconds in I got the warning on the screen that the boss would be sealed off in 15 seconds. Instead of enjoying the cut scene, I skipped it and did the boss fight. Not a big deal. After the fight though, I watched the ending scene. By the time it finished, everyone had disappeared. The map showed them a ways away and I tried to figure out how to get there. With both doors shut, I finally asked. Thankfully someone responded with the chute on the left. In this case I was able to catch up with them. From there on out I sadly skipped all the cut scenes and was at least able to keep up. (Why only 1000 characters?)

Not happy, but wanting to press on, I queued up for Praetorium. After watching the entire group completely bypass the first few fights to run for the teleports, I realized I had found another group of speed runners. At the first boss I skipped the movie right away to keep up. When they actually paused for a moment before the fight I joked "Wait, were you going to let me actually watch the movie?" which garnered a few laughs before the tank got started. We killed the boss and kept moving.

Then the worst part happened. As I know now, you have to hit a button to get access to the mech riders at the top of the lift. Not knowing that previously, I spent about 30 seconds wondering why I didn't have authorization before asking in chat. After about another 30 seconds, someone finally told me to hit the button. I went back down the lift, hit the button, and back up. After just getting started in my mech, another cut scene happened. They were fighting the boss and I was incredibly far behind. So I'd miss one, no big deal. I kept pushing and looking for the group. Not having any idea where I was and no one to follow, I turned left instead of right back in the center room and found my way back to Cid. By this point another boss had started and I had missed out on two. At this point I was pissed. Complaining in chat would only get me laughed at, so I kept trying to find a way. After finally finding the way down, they had finished the fight and was up to Ultima weapon.

At this point, the game ported me to the ultima weapon chamber thankfully and I finished the dungeon.

I understand speed running a dungeon, it's not the end of the world and I can see the cut scenes later at an inn. They aren't as good when not in the moment and the entire climax of the game was spoiled without them, but that's not my complaint. My major complaint is the button to get authorization for the mech riders. I've worked through most of the leveling dungeons previously and can't think of a single time where a button or item needed in the dungeon needed to be picked up by everyone individually. For example, in Haukke Manor, the small keys can be picked up by anyone in the party and used by anyone in the party. In the Sunken Temple of Quarn, the stones/items that are picked up can be used by any part members to open the various doors. In Tam-Tara Deepcroft, the rosary can be picked up by anyone and used by anyone to unseal the last two beams before the final boss.

Why is this the first time in the game where the individual players need to activate the switch? And why is there nothing that tells me this? Why does everyone need to individually get authorized for the mech suits? And if you're going to introduce a new mechanic like that, why isn't there anything that tells me "Hey, you shouldn't be going up this lift until you've gotten authorized!"

And to finish, I'd like to offer a suggestion. An opt in option (So you have to choose it, not by default), that will try and match people who don't necessarily want to speed run. I realize that the content gets boring after doing it more than a few times for dailies, but for the people who want to take it slow, and enjoy the game as originally intended, there should be an option for that.

Either that or gate the content. Have a room that requires all eight people to be present. Thematically, there's 8 consoles in the room that need to have a code inputted at the same time. Or, if someone is AFK, someone or something could hack it, it just takes 60 (Or XX) seconds real time. Speed runners wont be effected at all, new people will be given a chance to catch up (And encouraged to so the rest can continue), and if there is an AFKer, the dungeon will continue after a short break.

Last night I honestly regretted getting the game. The conclusion was horrendous, getting left behind and lost like that. Yes I'll keep going into Heavensward, but if I continue to run into that (Getting lost, new mechanics with no explanation, being left behind), I don't think I'll be sticking around.

If you read this whole thing, thank you. I don't know why the forum forced me down to 1000 character a post, but hopefully you get the jist of it. Sorry for the rant, but I woke up this morning still unhappy and just wanted to get it off my chest. Thanks again.

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Originally Posted by Silverfin

If you read this whole thing, thank you. I don't know why the forum forced me down to 1000 character a post, but hopefully you get the jist of it. Sorry for the rant, but I woke up this morning still unhappy and just wanted to get it off my chest. Thanks again.

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Sorry to hear about it. For future reference, you can bypass the character limit by editing your post from a PC.

#nerfbutton


just redo both dungeons with your actual knowledge and it should work fine for you ;)

And this is why ever since those two dungeons, they have never put that kind of stuff in content again.

No content since those two has that problem anymore. Don't let it sour your experience.

Yep. Just what Ashelia said. But in all honesty, they were just running for their Daily Poetics. Who wouldn't want to speed run an important place that is the climactic end of the 2.0 ARR storyline? I wouldn't if people were new. It's another one of those threads, though.

it was ALWAY this way. even back when 2.0 was new. nobody want to wait 10-20 mins for all those cutscenes in the 2nd, 3rd... 20th... run.

It's definitely a tad annoying to have your experience messed up like that. From the perspective of someone who's been playing since the beta though, a lot of people have done Castrum Meridianum and Praetorium more than fifty times each, easily. After the fifth you really don't care about the cutscenes and after the tenth you really don't want to slow down your tomestone farming just because one person hasn't watched the cutscenes.

Again though, there are no other places where this happens because SE learned their lesson. :)

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Originally Posted by Tint

nobody want to wait 10-20 mins for all those cutscenes in the 2nd, 3rd... 20th... run.

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I always wait for newbies to watch cutscenes, even on my 90+ runs back farming philo and myth. Then again, I'm better than most people so I'm probably in an extreme minority.

Sorry to hear that OP. I also wanted to watch all the scenes as I leveled, but I skipped through the cut-scenes as well. I actually wait for people and don't mind if they want to watch them. I got to experience them when I made a 2nd character though; I told the group I knew I would be left behind but I wanted to see the scenes unfold. They surprised me and stuck with me the entire time. But I also understand the people who want to speed run them because they run them so much.

I just thought I'd let you know, not all groups are like the one you experienced last night. I also last night finally got to the end of the 2.0 story line and ran those 2 dungeons, but ended up getting the friendliest group I've had yet in any dungeon (and that's saying a lot, cause most every group I've been in has been wonderful). I told them up front it was my first time, and I would like to watch the cut scenes if that was ok. 6 of them immediately said, "Of course"... and then proceeded to walk me through the dungeon pointing out what I had to do here and there and waiting for me at the cut scenes while I talked about them as they played with the group. It was a great experience. I'm sorry yours went so poorly. I could see how that would be disappointing.

It's really down to what the group wants to do. These are often people who have run those dungeons hundreds of times before and don't want to wait out long cutscenes. Some will to be nice but some won't. Either way you shouldn't automatically expect anything from a random group.

Reposting this since we're getting the same thread every so often.

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Originally Posted by Trixxy

Noone is entitled to your ideal fresh 50 experience. It may be new to you, but for a majority of people who you'll meet in story trials it's old content and only necessary for their dailies. The occasional actual newcomer won't make a major difference between ~7 other people who've run the same thing dozens of times.

It's commendable if people are willing to wait and explain things somehow, but in no way something a newcomer should expect / demand.
Because that'd be just as selfish.

This mostly applies to old content that doesn't require a lot of explaining in the first place, you dying and being left behind most likely won't make a big difference to the run. If that's such a big deal to you, use the PF and find the right people for it.

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Originally Posted by Trixxy

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I can't for the life of me understand this attitude of old players thinking a new player wanting to enjoy the story is being entitled. No one is entitled to your daily grinding either. To demand a new player do what you want for grinding purposes is equally as selfish as one new person expecting 7 people to wait for them. Don't pretend it's any better.

Honestly I understand both sides of this argument. I really, really do. I tend to lean more towards the "let the new people enjoy it and take your time" camp because I'm getting extra tombstones because of them so I owe it to them. So I'll always wait for the new people but I get why others don't want to.

Either way the whole attitude a lot of older players have with this need to go.

i mean no one on the server i choose (ifrit) even talks, let alone speaks english. i haven't even managed to see a single person join anything on the duty finder. how am i supposed to even do the main quest line. im level 20 and ive just paid for it now i regret it. is it just me or is this server broke. i mean i cant ask for help i cant even post of the forums cause im too low level. wtf

When I hit 50, I didn't do Praetorium until I had a pre-made group because I had a similar experience in my first CM (and this was just a month or so after launch). It's not a new issue and as others have mentioned, they stopped putting long cutscenes mid-dungeon for this reason. Unfortunately they don't seem interested in retooling these two dungeons so that they can readily be experienced by players finishing the story for the first time.

I wait, but yeah--people want to get in, get out. They can get pretty long. :(

Although I feel like I'm the only person horrified as a writer and a gamer that slow, atmospheric cutscenes would be almost randomly inserted into an adrenaline-pumped setting in the first place. I skipped it all my first time and didn't go back.

I just experienced this as well after just hitting 50 and doing the last two dungeons. Completely ruined any enjoyment I might have gotten from the experience also, and it was like watching a movie and then having some obnoxious jerk fast forwarding through the ending. I'm just glad I hadn't paid for a subscription yet because this totally killed off any interest I had in playing this game anymore. Entirely too many and too long cutscenes in this game anyway.