Yeah it's way late to mention this now but, still no rework for this, Square...?

[Zojha]

Can't you just do the dungeons unsynced? I'd wager a lvl 60 WAR can solo them these days, so you don't really have to rally a huge crowd.

Alternately, you can start a PF group:"Castrum + Praetorium with cutscenes, please help!"

I mean, especially the latter takes a whole lot longer than just queuing for it in the DF, but people have said themselves they wouldn't mind that, so...yeah?
Realistically, enforcing cutscenes is pretty much going to kill off the dungeons and you'll have to resort to these options anyway. Only difference is people who don't mind watching them later will have to do it as well.

[Selli]

I started playing about a month before 2.3 and people didn't wait then either. The dungeons themselves are 20-40 minutes, the cut scene total can be 15-20 minutes long if you read slow. Expecting people in the DF to nearly double the length of the dungeon for one person is not going to happen. Especially when people do the roulette everyday for 200k EXP to level classes.

As the experienced player in this situation, OP, you have done this content. I'm sure you must have at least done the Main Scenario Roulette at least once and you should have seen this coming from a mile away. If you and your girlfriend wanted to do a full story run of CM/Prae, you should have known that hosting a party in the Party Finder (or undersizing with a smaller party), would have been a much more successful idea than expecting 6 strangers to be compassionate and patient on a whim.

[WinterLuna]

I usually let people watch the cutscenes but still go ahead and go through the duty. Main Scenario roulette is a roulette I do every day for the exp, not for the tomes. Letting people watch the cutscenes and waiting for them every time people do MSR actually takes a very long time.

I understand people want to experience the content fully but without roulette, nobody would even queue for those dungeons, and sorry, but it's unrealistic to think everyone is going to wait every time someone is new. As I said, I have no problem with people watching cutscenes, but I'm still going to run the dungeon while they do so. It not just the new players time that we have to respect but the other people in the dungeon.

[Lilyth]

I don't really see a problem with that. The first time I ran Castrum and fought Ultima, I watched all of the cutscenes.

Yes, I stood there in the entrance the entire run, given the sheer amount of CS, and not only nobody even cared, but they were nice enough to give me 7 commends when the duty was over and I even saw some jokes about it in the chat later. After that I just exit it and got in again so I could actually do the instance.

At least from experience, if you wanna watch the cs, just do it. Hardly anyone will complain in such place. But dont expect other 7 people to wait for you, they all have their individual priorities.

[Paladinleeds]

They really should revamp Main Scenario Roulette to make it so if there's a new person you can't move through the dungeon or begin fights until they're caught up on cutscenes. In return, getting a new person would give you (once a day or so) a grab bag that has cool items in it. Shove some of the cash shop stuff in there as a rare reward and you'll get people queueing up Main Scenario Roulette every day for a chance at their Minfillia boob costume or whatever.

Cash shop rewards, rare dyes, materia, tomestone tickets (item that you use to gain tomestones so you can take it easy for a week or something), maybe outdated glamour items like allagan gear. Something other than just "uhhh exp and tomestones."

Rare dyes would be enough for me to put up with that. Indeed, it'd be perfect for me. Then I can use rare dyes on my Thavnairian Bustier set and not worry about the dyes running out as much or having to use my Gold Chocobo Feathers.

[Evaddaragon]

August 2013: When CM and Prae got released, we still skipped cutscenes. Why? The content was tuned so that our ilvls 45-50 would actually run out of time if we'd watch them. No, seriously.

Asking seven strangers to wait for one? It's just not going to happen. Expecting otherwise simply is unrealistic.

As others said, there are alternate methods: The Party Finder, or an Undersized Party. Indeed, I'm pretty sure a level 60 tank with ilvl170+ can actually solo CM and Prae.

[Ashkendor]

I agree with you OP, something does need to be done.
I've done CM and Prae recently and so have a few members of my FC (sadly there weren't enough of us to do an FC run). Not one person found the experience enjoyable.
The choice seems to be watching cutscenes at the inn, which is really disjointed or watch them but expect the group to run ahead without you and, if you are really unlucky, expect somebody to throw a tantrum about it, too.

If they implemented something like this, I honestly think the problem would be solved.
Leaving things as they are just facilitates impatient people who want their speed-run. While experiencing those instances in the rushed manner that most new players have to at present, is unpleasant and probably losing them a few subscriptions, too.

Just make an undersized party. You don't need 8 level 60's to wreck either of these dungeons.

These dungeons probably won't change because they've been outdated for over a year now.

No. Let's be clear. It's no one ELSE that owes impatient morons anything, not the other way around. These people who refuse to help newbies and purposefully choose an inefficient tome farming method, I feel no sympathy for. The question is also wrong. Why the hell is THEIR time so important? Because "muh tomes D:"? No one cares. If the prospect of dealing with newbies in a dungeon that most people will only run once (especially nowadays), then you need to reexamine your priorities. So no. It's the new players that don't owe YOU anything.

Who the hell even farms tomes in Praetorium and Castrum anymore? Poetics are so last level cap.

Unless they give at least 100 esoterics no one will be willing to join that roulette if you enforce watching cutscenes.

Pretty much this. I don't mind if people watch the cutscenes, but odds are the party is going to go on without them. If there's a general agreement to wait for them, that's cool, but enforcing it is just going to make the queue for those roulettes ridiculously long since less people will do it. 40-50 minutes for 200k exp and a pile of nigh-worthless poetics tomes isn't really much of a deal.

[Whiteroom]

If they force people to watch them, only people who need the dungeon will queue. So you can have it as is, or you can wait 24 hours for your queue to pop.

How are they actually supposed to rework those dungeons with the way they are set up? Without redoing the whole thing from scratch? tbh, the last thing anyone wants is to give up two new instances, so the few new people can enjoy their cutscene the one time.

Honestly, the only reason you got into the dungeon in an amount of time that didn't make you quit the game was because of those speed runners doing their daily for the millionth time. And that is the only reason why the daily is there, forcing them to watch the cutscenes everytime, for your one time enjoyment, means the daily is no longer worth it. Its barely worth it as is.

Also, these dungeons were made for people at around ilvl 50, given that you can have ilvl 115 the moment you reach level 50 now, means that undersizing with four people is an entirely feasible and reasonable option.

[adn]

Alright then OP. Sure, we can enforce watching cutscenes in those dungeons or split them into their own queue. I hope you enjoy your 10-hour queue time because absolutely nobody will waste their time with it as the only reason anyone does it NOW is because it gives decent XP if you run through it quickly. Force people to watch cutscenes and it won't take people long to figure out that their time is better spent grinding FATEs for 30 minutes instead of waiting for other people to watch cutscenes.

Nobody rushes through those dungeons because they care about "speed records or l33t dps", they just want to get the dungeon over with because they have probably run it 50+ times by now. You should be happy you even get people to run it with you.

[Verius_Nox]

They should turn those into solo experiences, I feel. Or let you load in with friends, and it fills in the holes with random npc's.