Since Stormblood is bringing new players: can we please get a warning on Castrum/Prae

[Fyrebrand]

if I hadn't had my girlfriend right there reassuring me that it would never happen again, I would have quit the game.

This statement alone is more than enough to warrant at least some kind of redesign of Castrum and Praetorium, as solo story quests. I mean, unless Square Enix has completely given up on getting new players into the game..?

You don't have to scrap the existing 8-player dungeons as they exist now. Keep them as optional "wandering minstrel" versions that unlock after you complete the main vanilla story, remove all the story cutscenes from them, and assign them different kinds of rewards more in line with what advanced "farming" players are after. Keep newbies trying to enjoy the story away from these speed demons.

You don't have to create an entirely new set of dungeons from scratch for the story people, either. Keep the environments as they are, and divide them up into a handful of smaller-scale, solo-oriented missions. Cut out the huge crowds of mobs, and replace them with a handful of smaller groups. Make the boss encounters much more simplified, but with some semblance of their intended mechanical flavour where possible. Insert all the same story cutscenes we had before, where appropriate. I'm not going to pretend this is a negligible amount of work, but I do think it is worth doing, considering this section of the game has been a notorious blemish on the game that people STILL cringe and have bitter feelings about.

The proposed extra warning message to manually create a group in Party Finder may help new players guarantee that they get a group of like-minded allies, but I feel this is unsatisfactory for three main reasons:
1) It reinforces the arrogant and selfish attitude that Duty Finder is just for experienced farm runs, and not a place for newbies. You think "you can watch cutscenes at the inn" is used as a lazy bludgeon NOW? Wait til the game starts literally telling new players they shouldn't bother with DF.
2) Newbies are a huge part of why Duty Finder and various roulettes even exist, in the first place. Square Enix doesn't need you to queue for endgame MSQ instances for YOUR OWN enjoyment. They need you do queue for them because new people need to get through this content so they can progress with the game and story. They even give you a BONUS for having new people in a DF group -- that bonus isn't there so you can leave newbies in the dust and lock them out of every encounter, and tell them to queue in Party Finder if they actually want to see content.
3) Has anyone actually DONE this, for real? How long did it take to find a group? I have a feeling you will be waiting in Party Finder for HOURS. I mean, people know about Party Finder, and there's a reason most of us suffer through toxic DF nonsense and have the main MSQ ruined. Maybe things have changed a bit, now that PF is cross-server? I doubt it is significant, though.

If we're looking for a band-aid "quick fix" solution that doesn't involve re-making the dungeons entirely, I would propose a few less-drastic ideas:
* Do not award "new player bonus" if any new player(s) get locked out of boss rooms, or better yet just don't allow boss rooms to be entered at all if anyone is in a story cutscene or isn't within a reasonable radius of the room
* Inflict a harsh penalty on kicking or shutting out first-timers, such as DF queue lock-outs, lessened baseline completion rewards, ineligibility for WT stickers, or disqualification from commendations.
* How about the flip-side of your suggestion, where players queuing for Main Scenario roulette get an extra pop-up message: "Warning: Duties in this category are a unique but important part of experiencing the story of A Realm Reborn, and contain lengthy story cutscenes. By queuing for this roulette, it is likely you will be matched with new players who wish to view these scenes in full. Please be patient and courteous to your fellow players and allow them to enjoy Final Fantasy XIV as intended."
* After completing the dungeon, first-timers are prompted with a message box asking if the other players in their group were cooperative and allowed them to experience the content properly. If they agree, their teammates are granted a further bonus to rewards, even if they have already left the instance.
* If you integrate some combination of elements like these, you can increase the baseline rewards for the roulette in general, to make it more worthwhile.