Can we move past the stupidity of dungeons that do not allow skipping cut scenes?

I remember when this first started for MSQs, and was universally panned as a dumb idea by players from a product team woefully out of touch with the experience people actually want.

Yet here we are years later, and the dumb idea persists. Can someone on the product team not apply a smidge of common sense that anyone who wants to view the cut scenes can do so through other means, so you don't need to force them down the throats of every player? All it does it needlessly prolong dungeons that used to actually be fun to play through, and now queue for 30 minutes because they are no longer worth the bother.

Author's note: I wrote this during the intermission loosely referred to a cut scene in Praetorium leading up to the 2-minute fight with Nero. General comments among my fellow players during this lay somewhere between "going to go make a sandwich", "man this sucks", and "I want to dig out my own eyeballs with a plastic spoon".

Assuming that Praetorium and friends won't be redesigned, the current system is both good and necessary.

Because here's what a first-time player's experience in those duties used to be:
- Watching cut scene
- Cutscene ends. Boss is dead. Repeat.

Or even worse:
- Watch cutscene.
- Cutscene ends, next cutscene starts.
- Cutscene ends, next cutscene starts.
- Dungeon is over gg.

These were bad experiences. First-time players deserve to be able to experience the story and the gameplay.

And history has shown us that if you make the cutscenes skippable if every player agrees, first-time players will be pressured to skip or simply group kicked, or that other players who were hoping everyone would skip will abandon the party since it isn't going to be the quick clear they were hoping for.

Thankfully, unless I'm mistaken, you can avoid all of these cutscenes by simply not doing the MSQ roulette.

I don't think new player experience and NOT forcing experienced players to sit through a scene for the 100th time have to be mutually exclusive. There is already a check in the code at the beginning of any dungeon for someone new to the event; from the standpoint of a developer it would be easy to add logic in that states that - if there are no brand new players, give a vote option on whether the scenes can be skippable or not. Or, as the most recent updates have shown the product team attempting to curry favor with those that want to play solo, at least give the option to skip scenes when doing it with an NPC party. My point is, with a little thought, you could make the experience enjoyable for 99% of players, not 10%.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JLogan3o13

NOT forcing experienced players to sit through a scene for the 100th time

---

You are not forced.

You specifically ASKED to watch those cutscenes in exchange for the most tomestones per hour of any content in the entire game.

You took the bribe, now you do the job.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ICountFrom0

You are not forced.

You specifically ASKED to watch those cutscenes in exchange for the most tomestones per hour of any content in the entire game.

You took the bribe, now you do the job.

---

* as long as you didn't get sucked in by DR:Mentor

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rongway

* as long as you didn't get sucked in by DR:Mentor

---

you chose to queue for it did you not?

This is a dead issue. In all likelihood they wont change these instances again. And even if im wrong and they do, they will not add an option to skip the cutscenes without also changing the rewards. With skipable scenes, this dungeon is Pharos Sirius. Are you asking for Pharos level exp and tomes? You know you can get that already by just running Pharos.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Scruit_Bigtime

you chose to queue for it did you not?

---

That’s a bit of a cheap comment considering that Mentor roulette comprises every group duty in the game except Coils, savage mode and pvp. You just get sent to whereever a body is needed. You can end up in a lvl 10 guildhest, in an extreme or anything in between. MSQ roulette comprises only 3 out of >250 possible duties in Mentor roulette.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rongway

* as long as you didn't get sucked in by DR:Mentor

---

I am getting it not even 2% of the time. If I get it, I just sit back and relax and do some reading during cutscenes. Not a big deal.

As for those who queue MSQ, well don’t complain: you are actively making the choice to queue for duties that come with non skippable cutscenes in exchange for lots of tomes (and mogtomes during events) as well as XP in the case of Prae. The roulette is not mandatory.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Toutatis

That’s a bit of a cheap comment considering that Mentor roulette comprises every group duty in the game except Coils, savage mode and pvp. You just get sent to whereever a body is needed. You can end up in a lvl 10 guildhest, in an extreme or anything in between. MSQ roulette comprises only 3 out of >250 possible duties in Mentor roulette.

---

With respect, if someone goes into the Mentor Roulette, they should be prepared to be a helpful Mentor and help someone with any content in the game. If a person is after a quick and easy run, the Mentor Roulette is never a good choice for that.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JLogan3o13

There is already a check in the code at the beginning of any dungeon for someone new to the event; from the standpoint of a developer it would be easy to add logic in that states that - if there are no brand new players, give a vote option on whether the scenes can be skippable or not.

---

I covered this kind of thing in my original reply, but I'll reiterate: this would result in players dropping the group the instant that they realized there was a brand new player and they wouldn't be able to skip.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JLogan3o13

Or, as the most recent updates have shown the product team attempting to curry favor with those that want to play solo, at least give the option to skip scenes when doing it with an NPC party.

---

I can't remember, does doing it solo give the same rewards as the Roulette? If so you would want to avoid this, because this would discourage players from doing the actual Roulette, which exists to make sure there are groups for players looking to do the content with a group.

Players will always try to game the system, so you need to create a system they can't game.

And here I am not doing MSQ roulette because I don't hate myself enough. Crazy how that works. lol

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by LilimoLimomo

With respect, if someone goes into the Mentor Roulette, they should be prepared to be a helpful Mentor and help someone with any content in the game. If a person is after a quick and easy run, the Mentor Roulette is never a good choice for that.

---

That is absolutely not what I said. In fact no one said that. I don’t know why you post this.

A mentor simply brought up the absence of extra tomes for dealing with cutscenes when you get Prae in mentor roulette, they never mentioned that they didn’t want to help to which someone else answered don’t queue mentor roulette which is ridiculous considering all the duties included in it. I also didn’t view it as something about quick duties: some things are as long as Prae in the roulette, some others can take much longer, yet they can be more interesting. When you get Prae in mentor roulette you are just there for filling as it’s one of the easiest duties in the game.

Anyway, I got Prae 3 times in 257 roulettes, it’s really not a big deal. I don’t have an issue waiting on people who want to watch their cutscenes either.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by LilimoLimomo

I can't remember, does doing it solo give the same rewards as the Roulette? If so you would want to avoid this, because this would discourage players from doing the actual Roulette, which exists to make sure there are groups for players looking to do the content with a group.

---

I want say, for Duty Support and Trusts, you get fewer pieces of gear from treasure chests, but rewards are otherwise unchanged. You would, however, miss out on the separate daily Roulette bonus by queueing directly.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Toutatis

That is absolutely not what I said. In fact no one said that. I don’t know why you post this.

---

My interpretation of your intial post was that you were trying to counter the statement "you chose to queue for it did you not?" If that was not your intended interpretation, then I'll simply chalk this one up as a miscommunication. :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Toutatis

That’s a bit of a cheap comment considering that Mentor roulette comprises every group duty in the game except Coils, savage mode and pvp. You just get sent to whereever a body is needed. You can end up in a lvl 10 guildhest, in an extreme or anything in between. MSQ roulette comprises only 3 out of >250 possible duties in Mentor roulette.

---

yes, and people choose to do those, knowing full well they may get unskippable cutscene content.

its really simple, if you dont want to do content that has unskippable cutscenes, dont que for content where that is an option.

if you want the rewards from doing mentor, then suck it up, put your big boy pants on and deal with it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by LilimoLimomo

With respect, if someone goes into the Mentor Roulette, they should be prepared to be a helpful Mentor and help someone with any content in the game. If a person is after a quick and easy run, the Mentor Roulette is never a good choice for that.

---

Want me to hold your hand while you watch a cutscene , or what do you need a mentor for in prae?

Just remove Praetorium from the Partyfinder , make it player+NPC duty only, forcing people to watch cutscenes is the dumbest shit in any videogame.
I remember this pissed me off a a child already on my Nintendo64, when i played Snowboardkids , when you won the last race it always played a 3-5 minute long cutscene with credits you couldn't skip, so what did i do as a kid? push the reset button or just give up the race before the finish line.
Yeah sound fun doesn't it.

Wish granted. After Praetorium, devs realized it was a mistake to include non-skippable cutscenes.

Like. You're bringing up this topic as if it's some new/persistent thing you have to deal with, and then off-handedly mention "this is Prae."

Quote:

---

All it does it needlessly prolong dungeons that used to actually be fun to play through, and now queue for 30 minutes because they are no longer worth the bother.

---

Is this, like, the first time you've played the game in five years or something? When have these dungeons ever been "fun to play through"? Because you make it sound like "fun" for you is "8 players blitzing the duty in 10 minutes skipping everything" which hasn't existed for years.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by LilimoLimomo

I can't remember, does doing it solo give the same rewards as the Roulette? If so you would want to avoid this, because this would discourage players from doing the actual Roulette, which exists to make sure there are groups for players looking to do the content with a group.

---

The big rewards come from the roulette itself, so no, going solo wouldn't get you the same rewards as a roulette run – though I assume a duty support run gives the same prizes as any direct queue.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Arohk

Just remove Praetorium from the Partyfinder , make it player+NPC duty only, forcing people to watch cutscenes is the dumbest [kupo] in any videogame.

---

When we knew Prae was being reworked, some people thought they would do this, but others were saying they didn't want to lose their daily roulette rewards from it. You can't make everyone happy at once.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Hasrat

Wish granted. After Praetorium, devs realized it was a mistake to include non-skippable cutscenes.

---

And? did they fix it? no.

Honestly, I would be fine with a ring around me until the cutscene is over. But I'm not selfish in that way. It doesn't bother me.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Scruit_Bigtime

you chose to queue for it did you not?

---

No. I did not.

https://i.imgur.com/acbDkPR.png

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Arohk

And? did they fix it? no.

---

In life, sometimes you have to live with your mistakes.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Hasrat

In life, sometimes you have to live with your mistakes.

---

do you even listen to yourself?

https://media.tenor.com/ZFc20z8DItkA...alm-really.gif

I mean.. do you? Do you ever actually stop to think what is actually involved in your declaration of "just fix it"? Do you give any consideration to ho much time and effort they've already poured in to those particular instances in their attempts to mollify the crowd of babies that can't handle spending more than 10 minutes to receive their rewards?

They've openly admitted they recognize the mistake of cramming cutscenes mid-dungeon. They've not repeated this mistake, and have taken steps to mitigate the inconvenience it still causes.

But somehow that's still not enough for you, is it?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Hasrat

I mean.. do you? Do you ever actually stop to think what is actually involved in your declaration of "just fix it"? Do you give any consideration to ho much time and effort they've already poured in to those particular instances in their attempts to mollify the crowd of babies that can't handle spending more than 10 minutes to receive their rewards?

They've openly admitted they recognize the mistake of cramming cutscenes mid-dungeon. They've not repeated this mistake, and have taken steps to mitigate the inconvenience it still causes.

But somehow that's still not enough for you, is it?

---

If you ever run Mentor roulette and get Praetorium for the 3rd time on the same day, i wish you a lot of fun.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Arohk

Want me to hold your hand while you watch a cutscene , or what do you need a mentor for in prae?

---

Mentor Roulette isn't all about needing someone super skilled at the game; if it was, most of the possible duties would not be part of Mentor Roulette. More often than not, Mentor Roulette is just about giving a new player a buddy to do a duty with.

This is a story driven MMORPG... all cutscenes should be unskippable in duties.. if you wanna skip your personal cutscenes when others ain't with you fine.. but a cutscene in a duty should be unskippable across all duties..

People always say it dosnt matter if they pull while a new player is in a cutscene because they're short.. just a roar and zoom in.. well guess you shouldn't be upset to always see that.. plus it would fix the issue with longer cutscenes from dungeons like Toto-rak and the boss intros on alliance raids where you actually get dialog

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by LilimoLimomo

Assuming that Praetorium and friends won't be redesigned, the current system is both good and necessary.

Because here's what a first-time player's experience in those duties used to be:
- Watching cut scene
- Cutscene ends. Boss is dead. Repeat.

Or even worse:
- Watch cutscene.
- Cutscene ends, next cutscene starts.
- Cutscene ends, next cutscene starts.
- Dungeon is over gg.

These were bad experiences. First-time players deserve to be able to experience the story and the gameplay.

And history has shown us that if you make the cutscenes skippable if every player agrees, first-time players will be pressured to skip or simply group kicked, or that other players who were hoping everyone would skip will abandon the party since it isn't going to be the quick clear they were hoping for.

Thankfully, unless I'm mistaken, you can avoid all of these cutscenes by simply not doing the MSQ roulette.

---

That was exactly my experience, when i reached it for a long time.
I had a slow Internet connection. Each time a cs and loading screen was finished, was the rest of the raid allready half the map away. Or was allready by the next boss.

But yeah, skipping the cs now would be nice. Its not much differently, to All the other dungeon and raids with cs.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by LilimoLimomo

.

Thankfully, unless I'm mistaken, you can avoid all of these cutscenes by simply not doing the MSQ roulette.

---

There is a convoluted way to skip it. One dps watch the cutscene So the instance doesn't close due to all people dc
, and rest of the people reboot the game. But you need to have people that agree to do it. I tried to solo gaius. I can take a tankbuster as scholar, But l need to have a crit shield to survive the stack alone. So l only do it if l need poetic

I've gotten Praetorium quite a few times in Mentor Roulette but I just suck it up and do it. It's really not that long after they moved the Ultima Weapon fights to their own duty. Better than getting Ramuh Extreme for the 20th time with 2 tanks that don't know how to pick up orbs or properly perform a tank swap.

Realistically how many people do you think are in Prae or Castrum for the first time? How many people are running those dungeons every day?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kyrj

Realistically how many people do you think are in Prae or Castrum for the first time? How many people are running those dungeons every day?

---

Realistically, the system is what it currently is due to years of feedback that SE has received from players. It doesn't matter what we think might be happening. SE has the information to know what is actually happening.

The only reason the rewards are as high as they are is because you are required to watch all cutscenes. Remove that requirement, and SE would likely roll those duties into the 50/60/70/80 roulette where they technically belong in the first place. Instead of having a roulette with a nice extra bonus for watching cutscenes, you'd have one less roulette bonus that could be earned in a day.

If you don't want to sit through the cutscenes, don't queue for MSQ roulette. Do other things for XP and tomestones.

Realistically, SE has set up the MSQ roulette to ensure that if new players are present, they will get to watch their cutscenes without pressure, and all other participants are getting paid well in tomes and EXP to enable this smooth experience for newbies.