I despise Aurum Vale.

[Mahri]

I hate this dungeon.

I hate it's stupid terrain gimmick and finicky pulls.

I hate it's terrible sightlines and cramped rooms.

I hate it's ass-ugly green filter on everything.

I hate that it comes up for my leveling roulette every. Single. Day.

And what I despise most is what it does to players. Because nobody likes this dungeon, everyone is on edge when they arrive, because every single person would rather be yanking their fingernails off than doing it yet again.

It isn't even difficult. Not by a long shot. It's just tedious and irritating.

Square-Enix. You want us to have fun, right? You've designed numerous dungeons that any of us will take before heading into AV yet again, yet somehow the RNG of duty roulette keeps shoving us into that godawful dumpster fire you've left in this game.

Just flat-out delete it. Nobody will miss it. Nobody.

[SendoTakeshi]

Get over it.


I like the dungeon actually. For whatever it's worth.

[adn]

It's super nice for XP, it actually gives more XP than Dusk Vigil does if you kill all of the morbol pods.

But yeah, I have bad memories of running it in 2.0 when it was actually pretty difficult. Nowadays it's not too bad as long as people can click on a morbol fruit.

[Theodric]

It's not nearly as terrible as it's often made out to be. I suspect a lot of people dislike it because it's one of those dungeons that requires players to pay attention not only to mechanics but their surroundings as well.

[Mahri]

It's not nearly as terrible as it's often made out to be.

Bolded is the core of my problem. What we have here is a dungeon which has a reputation for being awful. People, upon seeing it, will complain, or just drop group outright. Should they? No. Can I blame them? No. Attitude is really, really important. Aurum Vale doesn't encourage good ones, and it possesses no actual redeeming value to make it feel worthwhile, save in this case:

I like AV and it's great XP for those at that level.

Everyone has to be on board, and that typically means that they're a level that truly benefits from the XP yielded. Bolded, however: If they're above 50 or so, the additional gains are negligible.

So let's meet halfway.

Don't delete it. Just don't let 50+ characters get it in their DR.

The Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak, on the hand...

This isn't a coincidence. Toto-Rak, AV, and Dzemael Darkhold are three dungeons that are holdovers from 1.0, their poor design reflecting the general incompetence that ruled around then. What you'll notice is that these dungeons are very cramped, have some sort of issue with terrain (be it goo, exploding crystals, or poison + knockback geysers), have terrible sightlines, and are just generally unfriendly for a game that requires deliberate positioning. This problem is not shared with newer dungeons, which tend to have much more wide-open spaces to move around and boundaries that do not cramp camera controls.

[Sylve]

Don't delete it. Just don't let 50+ characters get it in their DR.

AV was the second dungeon that made me (While leveling my Tanks) really sit up and take notice of the place instead of just watching anime while hitting Flash/Overpower.
The first being Stone Vigil, that place starts to hit rather hard when you first get there and you can't just ignore all the boss mechanics.

As to the part of your post I'm highlighting here, If you removed it from the leveling Roulette, legitimate first timers and those trying to use it to level a new Job as well as those doing new Grand Company promotions would find the queues to be atrocious.
Its very rare indeed that i get into an AV that is at least 3/4 under 50. And when it DOES happen, I make damn sure i give simple, clear instructions on the boss fights to make sure whoever happens to be actually new doesn't screw up.

Its not hard or tedious. The Trash can pose a serious threat if the Tank isn't being care--- Oh, wait. The trash. Right. Now i understand. People don't want trash mobs that make them think, they just want a series of 3 rooms with pinatas in them.

[Naunet]

I like Aurum Vale. :/ Never really understood why people hate it so much. It's not difficult. >_>

[xLucia]

I like AV and it's great XP for those at that level.

[Exodus-E]

Really, Aurum Vale isn't that bad (if anything, I would've loved to hear an extended version of its initial theme).

The Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak, on the hand...now, that one is tedious and irritating (seriously, what were they thinking with all that goo in the last third of it?).