So Housing Is Gated By The Most Hated 5-man In The Game :(

[Thunda_Cat_SMASH]

but like.. Aurum Vale is hated, not because it's difficult, but because it is dreadfully boring with really unappealing environments, and awful music. That, and it blocks you from using your level 50 abilities

Aurum Vale is no Thousand Maws. Aurum Vale has a great, oppressive atmosphere and it's a fun thing to run! I can only speak for myself, but the Vales honestly my favorite lre 50 dungeon~ Not to mention Morbols are adorable. 'u' Especially the seedlings.

By comparison, both Totorak and the level 24 dungeon both drag on about five times more than they should, with really blamd masonry and the goo on the floor that slows you down to a crawl. It is just... Not fun, especially with such ugly enemies as spiders. :c

[LaylaTsarra]

I like Aurum Vale. It's fun for me and a great place to level. I can understand the hate for new people who might not know mechanics and a tank who doesn't know how to selectively pull stuff. Many of my friends call it though Aurum F Vale. You can figure out for yourself what the F stands for.

[Kaurie]

Aurum Vale is no Thousand Maws. Aurum Vale has a great, oppressive atmosphere and it's a fun thing to run! I can only speak for myself, but the Vales honestly my favorite lre 50 dungeon~ Not to mention Morbols are adorable. 'u' Especially the seedlings.

By comparison, both Totorak and the level 24 dungeon both drag on about five times more than they should, with really blamd masonry and the goo on the floor that slows you down to a crawl. It is just... Not fun, especially with such ugly enemies as spiders. :c

Always interesting to hear counter opinions That said, I'd say Aurum Vale is my 2nd least favourite dungeon aesthetically, with Arboretum taking the first. Thousand Maws also sucks. Given the choice, I do not run them (and I have that choice, so I don't run them). I pretty much skipped out on expert roulettes for an entire patch with Arboretum.

[Thunda_Cat_SMASH]

Always interesting to hear counter opinions That said, I'd say Aurum Vale is my 2nd least favourite dungeon aesthetically, with Arboretum taking the first. Thousand Maws also sucks. Given the choice, I do not run them (and I have that choice, so I don't run them). I pretty much skipped out on expert roulettes for an entire patch with Arboretum.

Haha, true true. When it comes to dungeons I don't like, I'd say top of the list would be Sohr Kai and The Aery((after the two I mentioned previously of course)) I don't... Know what they were thinking with The Aery honestly. The last boss is great, but everything else before that is just kinda... There, I guess? The atmosphere and the visuals aren't the greatest, imo, and Sohr Kai((53 dungeon, I think)) is just too damn cheerful!

[Jandor]

Ugh, Toto-rak. Hate it when that one shows up. It just feels like it lasts forever.

[Welsper59]

AV is an example of challenge within reason for practically any given player. It also singles out the ones who don't care much for difficulty, regardless of what any chat logs or forum posts may say. Due to its lv49 cap, a lot of people treat it like its the plague, just because it gets rid of spells/skills that would make it faceroll like all endgame dungeons. I personally don't mind the handicap and enjoy AV for the fact that it forces us to deal with challenge of team work.

The problem is that a lot of people that do it are green with the concept. I'm basing that on firsthand experience. Tanks that either never tanked or are trolling, as they never use their AoE abilities, were the most common for me. With things like that happening, especially in that dungeon, it's more than enough to cause a party to fail before you can even get past the first boss.

I'm very patient with that dungeon, but no one else ever is. Someone leaves before it starts, someone leaves after an inevitable wipe, etc. It's not a good dungeon for someone to learn the ropes of their role in. Nor is it a good dungeon for someone to learn that mobs/bosses have mechanics that can actually be dangerous. Given how late into the game it is available, the realistic expectation is that you're at least a little familiar about the do's and don'ts in party content.

The problem with AV comes from players of all sides, the vets and the newbies, but it really doesn't come from the instance itself. If your party knows what to do, the place is easy but still offers a small bit of a challenge (especially for healers). If the party is clueless or inept, it will be the most hellish dungeon experience in the game. The dungeon is nearly perfectly balanced on its difficulty and ease, for one that's essentially the last gateway to endgame content... pity the difficulty stops with AV for various reasons.

[Lunavi]

The AV issue being discussed here is a great example of how watered down MMO playerbases have become. THis dungeon is not difficult at all, and has some of the best exp of any sub 50 dungeon. Let those Molboro eggs hatch before killing them - good exp.

As I said, it isn't the difficulty but the fact that it is long, boring, and there are many places where average DF soldiers can easily mess up the dungeon which makes it take even longer. The XP bonus isn't relevant to some as many are at 60 already. I never leave it, but I can see why it is one of the most disliked dungeons.

[RyuSaarva]

I have had no major issues on phoenix duty finder and I can't remember anyone leaving at the start because it's too hard for them, sometimes tank raqe quits when he pulls everything at the beginning and dies but that can happen in any dungeon.

[Kazrah]

Why not be in an FC with a house so you can buy an FC room? Gives you the exact same space and furniture capacity, all while saving you 200k that you can use on furniture or glamour stuff or exotic dancers (oh wait, OP's not on Balmung, nvm).

[Claire_Pendragon]

AV used to be really hard in 2.0 release.
The DPS check on the adds at the end were pretty much impossible to kill if you didnt have enough AoE dmg. (lets say PLD tank, and 2 MNKs for an example)
SCHs were at a massive disadvantage when their fairies would die to poisons they couldnt dispel.
And dodging attacks was much harder before SE increased the responsiveness of the servers later.
The fruit didnt grow back very fast, so you always ran out of fruit before the boss was killed. (Even when rationed to like "wait every 4 stacks")

Now mobs have their dmg lowered, their HP lowered, fruit grow back so fast u can ignore mechanics, the AoEs are easy to dodge, and the final bosses adds can be killed with single target attacks by just the DPS.

The 1st room is still annoying as heck though.