Small rant as a fresh lvl 50

[Acyd]

I'm surprised this topic has never been brought up before

[Metalwrath]

I came back to the game a few months before heavensward and promised a friend to help them get through praetorium with my tank.It was her first time doing it.I couldn't believe how bad the attitude had gotten over the cutscenes.
The reason it's gotten so bad is not because people are sick of it.It's because they are so overgeared they can get away with i ditching half the party to watch cutscenes while they race on like there lives are depending on it.
There is no reason for people to act like this.I know it's in a daily roulette but the bonus you get from it isn't great anyway.I say if you don't want to let people enjoy it then don't join.

The 2 places were designed to be enjoyed with the cutscenes.I love those 2 places for that.It made the run of the places much more interesting.

Don't ruin it for the new players and blame devs.They are not the ones forcing players to skip cutscenes.Whats causing this is a bad impatient player community plain and simple.

[bounddreamer]

They don't even care about the tomestones bonus. I'm maxed on poetics and I won't spend any for the foreseeable future bc I just don't need them anymore and have nothing else to spend them on. Eventually they will be phased out like the soldiery no one can get anymore.

My GF will be doing Castrum soon. I'll be forming a party beforehand with two tanks and two healers. We will either turn our cutscenes on or inform the remaining party we are letting the adorable Lala watch the cutscenes.

I expect a fair amount of ragequitting but hey, just like they could progress without cutscene watchers, we will progress without them.

[Egnasya]

The thing is, I believe it is wrong to blame this on fellow players. The ones who decided to place 50 minutes worth of cutscenes into dungeons that take 20 minutes at best are Square devs. I personally would not attack anyone who has been through them a bazillion times for wanting to complete these dungeons as fast as possible. They brought their share of patience be sure of that, but there's only so many runs until you can't see it anymore. And I bet the majority of those who are new now will understand in time, when they are presented with the exact same situation on the other end of the rope. You will know then what it means to not be alone in your group, to wait forever for others. However. The mistake to even create such an abomination is on Square alone. And yes they learned from that, they didn't repeat the same thing afterwards. Good for them. But we are still stuck with this one case, this one exception, and it will never be fixed. Live with it.

And then there's that bit. Those cutscenes. Not only can you watch them over and over at the inn. But also. Look at them, closely. They. Are. Hardly. Worth. Watching. Really. I mean that. They show you exactly nothing, aside from the ending which you may very well watch in full length without bothering anyone since the dungeon is done at that point. But the other cutscenes are just optical flavor. A bit cheesy pointless yada yada here and there, ok, but ultimately the bosses you kill tell you more of what's happening. You're missing out on story by watching story cutscenes, isn't that genius.

All in all. I know people will hate me for that, but even I did it, and I'm as much a story enthusiast as anyone. Do yourself and everyone else a favor and skip those cutscenes. At least in random groups. It's just in those two dungeons, you can live with that, and it's not even the end of the story anymore. All will be good. Promise.

[HyperiusUltima]

To be honest, though, I think the divide is basically Newcomers vs. Veterans who've run Praetorium and Castrum Meridianum so many times. Back before Heavensward I dreaded a little of doing Castrum Meridianum in Main Scenario quite a bit due to its length, but the first time I ran it I wanted to actually play through everything. It didn't matter if Cid was slow as **** on his magitek armor. It didn't matter if the mob pulls were weak. What mattered was the feel of the first time you play through the dungeon.

Take Alexander as an example. The first week of release, everyone was hyped up for it until they found out it was the Illuminati behind it all. #FFXIVConfirmedForIlluminati
The fights were pretty fun with A2 being an interpretation of T4 and even the new mechanics that new raiders could learn on the fly(provided people who were grinding already didn't have overly high expectations in DF). Of course, for those who've run it over and over, it can become bland and just turn into a grind or just if you feel like running it for fun(Crystal Tower needs some more people running :<).

Same goes for basically any end-game story boss, basically. You get that fun feeling of fighting this huge, epic boss(i.e. Ultima Weapon) at the end of the ARR story-line, and I can see how people can whine about their experience being ruined by veterans who've run it X amount of times. I think the good thing to do is(if they have a bonus) is to allow those new people to experience those moments like Ultima Weapon, and ESPECIALLY the final boss of Heavensward if they have the expansion.

[Dyvid]

snip

Thankfully the devs learned from this mistake and don't have CS in dungeons/raids anymore. Doesn't fix the problem not but it's the first and only time this happens. Maybe let us play Triple Triad to pass the time in the dungeon >.>

[Rufalus]

This problem has always existed for castrum/praetorum. There have been numerous threads like this, some people even being brought to tears and quitting the game over having their story experience ruined by other players.

I made a suggestion once that I thought was pretty solid. It would take some dev time away from new content, but this problem has upset so many people already. My idea was to rebalance these two instances for solo play rather than full party. Cid and maybe some other NPCs join you. New players get to enjoy all the story cutscenes and play at their own pace. Main scenario roulette would be removed as veteran players would no longer be needed to join these instances. And the Ultima's Bane trial is still there for the more epic 8-player version of the Ultima battle.

[Mykll]

Vets want that new player bonus. Vets don't want new players to enjoy cutscenes. You only get to experience it day / week / MAYBE month of release.

New players want to experience the story as it unfolds. Not experience bits and pieces and watch bits and pieces out of order later on in the inn room.

Vets say want to not skip cutscenes, use PF.

New players say want to skip cutscenes, use PF.

Yeah there really is no win on this, as it currently stands.

[RhazeCain]

This is one example of a .. dynamic .. that you'll see often: different people have different reasons for being there. Roulettes are a big part of this: one person is correct level and wants to kill everything, watch cutscene, whatever .. While another person came in on the roulette, has done it a billion times before, and just wants to get to end for the bonus there.

[PogueX]

Both Castrum and Praetorium are horrible for queuing up cause everyone speed runs those (i don't know why cause their is no reward for speed running like their is in WOW). I only did it once for my story then when i was done never qued up for it again and no one tells the new players about the magitek armor either, it gets better though higher level players allow new players to view cutscenes in Keeper of the Lake and Snowcloak, at least in my experiences.

with one of my lower level characters i might watch cut scenes next time just for the LOLZ and if they leave me behind. hey that's less work i have to do to complete it