Aurum Vale, is it really that bad?

[Mirron]

I hate AV because it has Malboros. Is that not reason enough?

Ok. Thing I hated about Aurum Vale pre-patch is how the last boss almost required a BLM or a BRD in the party. DRG and MNK have AoE as well at this level but its slow or not as hard hitting. I've had people quit AV right at the beginning because there wasn't a BLM or a BRD in the party and it comprised of two melee. They've since made it easier now, so AV definitely isn't as hard as it used to be. My first time in there was an adventure, to say the least.

If you get a White Mage you can also deal with the last boss with Holy, it's what I've had to do a few times, wound up with all melee DPS groups sometimes. But I honestly haven't had too terrible of a time with it, at least most of the time. Only sometimes I have.

[Antanias]

I enjoy this dungeon for the simple fact that you need to pay attention and do your job correctly. Brayflox is really the starting point where this becomes necessary and I hope that the 2.5 dungeons as well as the ones added in Heavensward continue this tradition.

[Ilenya]

Frankly, I hate it for the mentioned but fixed Pet DoT issues. It just soured the whole dungeon for me. Have they made it so that pets will move out of the poison water on their own yet, by any chance?

[Mykll]

I enjoy this dungeon for the simple fact that you need to pay attention and do your job correctly. Brayflox is really the starting point where this becomes necessary and I hope that the 2.5 dungeons as well as the ones added in Heavensward continue this tradition.

You have to more pay attention until you hit level 50. Then you outgear everything and no longer have to pay attention. I actually wish the minimum ilvl on some places was raised, and the ilvl sync was lowered on some. Getting to be too much of a faceroll at times. Tactics? Naw. More aoe zerg.

Frankly, I hate it for the mentioned but fixed Pet DoT issues. It just soured the whole dungeon for me. Have they made it so that pets will move out of the poison water on their own yet, by any chance?

They don't move out of poison on their own, but they also no longer get the aoe stacks on them of the first and last bosses. Some improvement.

[Warlyx]

did it 2 days ago on my monk in low lvl DR , its more easy now than before still....wiped on 2nd boss (healer was new ) twice , managed to finish the boss solo :P , the last boss now is a joke ( i died on the 1 tho was clicking on fruit and boom death!)

my main issue with aurum vale is trash , gez too many pulls

the worse low lvl dungeon is Cutters Cry (loooooooong and painfull...last boss is still a wipefest )

[Delorean]

It could be a number of things... But in no particular order, I think these are the reasons why.

The typical play level of a DF party and the Length of the dungeon. It is difficult for some of us to really diagnose why people have issues with the things that they do. Arum Vale is not a difficult dungeon, but time and time again I have seen very reckless placement of the final boss, which ends up killing party members with it's cleave (See: Vine Probe). If you haven't hit that level of "I'm not a great, but I am kinda decent at the game", I suppose it is very easy to accidentally pull a lot of trash, wiping the group and being hit by all manner of AEs.

And really, it brings us to the last reason. There are not enough people in DF that are really willing to explain mechanics. I only try to after failure, but if as many people have anxiety about tanking as they say they do, they're probably just as afraid of being told that their ideas are stupid and they have no idea what they are talking about.

[Muzetta]

I always say it like this; AV is not bad. It simply isn't. BUT! the way I see it, the main reason people hate its guts is because of how often you get utterly terrible parties for it. It's kinda the same thing as Qarn normal. It's not hard, but half the time you get people that just derp around all the time making it a headache to get through.

[Radacci]

i hate all the dungeons from Cutters cry, up to the lv 50 ones...mostly cause lv sync, and can't use lv 50 skills, but also all the mobs have way to much hp.
as a sch, your pet is really dumb, and has tendency to stop in poison, and die, so you need to manually place it, or train it to a safe spot.
tanks easily pull to much, and cant keep aggro, and it's just lots of wipes.
i don't think i ever been in a AV run, that went smoothly...
Though if they made a HM version, it might be fun....until expansion, when all current lv 50 dungeons will be lv synced.

[Crimson-Falcon]

one of the few things i dont like to DF at all

[Felis]

Technically Aurum Vale is not very hard, but groups who "try to speed run", have no idea how to pull in the first room after the entrance, do not bother reading in game message, severely under geared, those group will not going to clear this. Or you can also get good players (but new and under geared), you could clear it, probably close to 60-90 mnts mark after several wipes "for learning experiences".

Or just pay $18, move to japanese servers, watch youtube video so you know what to do. You'll probably clear it in your first try, around 40 mnts or much less.

There are also 1.x players on Legacy servers who farmed 1.x Aurun Vale for months and find ARR Aurun Vale as very easy (if enough veteran players are in the group).