Please scale the difficulty of Royal Menagerie

[Spiroglyph]

I had a bad RM run yesterday...

Things I saw:
People don't pay attention to glaringly obvious aoe markers on the floor, or are very, very slow to react
People don't pay attention to chat, and people explaining mechanics might as well be talking to a wall
People don't pay attention to what teammates are doing, and often miss out on mechanics where you can SEE everyone running in one specific direction
People don't pay attention to what kills them several times in a row
People actually have no idea what their rotations are. Im not talking minmaxing and not screwing up, I'm talking core rotation and what their skills even do

People don't pay attention... period.

At some point I marked myself with the circle, and asked people, SEVERAL TIMES, to follow me - which only about three people did.

It was the first time I bothered equipping the healer pull-in skill (I can't remember its name), but there's still little in can do for a team of 8 on a 150s cooldown.

A considerable number of people there were not even new...

Fight doesn't need a nerf, people just need to use their eyes and to not watch netflix midfight.

[Starkbeaumont]

It's not harder then previous story elements. really. almost everything is related to dodging or easy to explain mechanics which are not new in general if you didn't skip the story up to lv60. and that you have to kill additional stuff like adds or the tail is explained to you during the hall of novice.
So as mentioned earlier, the problem is not the fight but the people.

[Lambdafish]

It's not harder then previous story elements. really.

In slight defence of the OP, while its not any harder than previous story elements, it is more unforgiving. It assumes that people paid attention in XIV class and know how to follow basic mechanics that were on the story mode syllabus. There is nothing wrong with the royal menagerie, the fault lies with the lack of punishment earlier in the semester for not engaging with learning said mechanics.

[AlexRaines]

The biggest issue in terms of difficulty is the progression. Royal Menagerie is quite a jump up from the previous instanced story fight. They need to have better difficulty progression to get people used to improving their skills.

I, as well, don't disagree with you. The fact that it locks gear behind the trial is more than a bit silly.And it is definitely a step up from other trials to this point. But it's a final boss and gear and dps isn't what prevents people from clearing the fight. What prevents people from clearing it is a basic lack of understanding of mechanics. In this fight in particular, there are really only 3 things that should be difficult for players who are still unaccustomed to mechanics - the chain between players, the earth move, and akh morn (though all of those just rely on remembering previous trials). All of the other mechanics are things that people should use common sense on how to handle:

hellfire (how do I handle fire in the real world, probably something to do with the water on the ground)
judgment bolt (lightning and water don't mix)
tidal wave (probably is gonna push me like in real life, should get as close as I can to avoid getting knocked off)
aerial blast (wind is pushing me from the center, I should probably get as close as I can to avoid being pushed off)
big marker with arrows pointing in (people probably want to stand on top of me)
a crack on a panel (I probably shouldn't stand here unless I absolutely have to)

The game definitely needs a better tutorial, especially with players jumping through story and levels with tales of adventure potions (why isn't the hall of the novice required?) but sometimes the game doesn't need to hold players hands so that they can figure out the mechanics. Sometimes players just need to look within.

[LineageRazor]

The player base wants difficulty (Super Savage) but also doesn't?

As with ANYTHING on the forums, there is NOTHING in which the player base is in uniform agreement. I think it's pretty safe to say that the folks clamoring for nerfs are NOT the ones looking forward to Shinryu Suicide Edition.

Huh, I thought you could plan for where the tail lands to avoid things like this? The tail lands where the person with the green marker over their head stands. Granted I think Shinryu also takes a square away no matter what with his earth 100% aether skill, so that could count as a soft enrage, yeah.

Well, that presumes that the group is savvy about the green marker, which mine clearly wasn't. Even with a group that knows how to position the tail, though, no matter how carefully you do so, you're eventually going to run into a situation where you no longer have three consecutive squares since Shinryu periodically changes positions on the battlefield, and his east/west tail becomes a north/south tail to make sure you can't just abuse the center square all the time (you're eventually going to lose the north, south, east, and west squares, even if tail lands center every time - and then you're screwed). Your group has to be pretty terrible (yet tenacious) to reach that point, however!

[bswpayton]

No, it is not.

Royal menagerie may be intensive in terms of the mechanics it offers, but that's where the difficulty stops. The fight itself only requires knowing how to position yourself and actively participate in the fight without waiting for the rest of the group to take you .

Im not asking for a nerf , I am just simply agreeing with the op on the fact that , the royal is harder than some of the actual ex primals in their current state. Nobody is talkin about old ilvl or unsync, if you where to get garuda ex in mentor roulette or something id say it be easier sometimes with randoms than RM with randoms.

Laksimi ex is easier than the RM , the only thing that seperates the two is an enrage, I cant count on more than one hand how many vote abandons Ive had on RM cause its plenty.
I did it on my first try, wasnt something unbelievable and Im ready for the ex version but as some of of these primals are now ex, the royal is on the same level imo which may be tuff for some players that dont do such content.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

The progression should start as early as when you're fending of ghosts in that level 10 or whatever quest in Lower La Noscea with Y'shtola. It shouldn't just suddenly hit you at the end of the 3rd expansion.

What I find odd is they seem to have this difficulty curve in leveling dungeons, but it tempers off completely throughout all other forms of content. Granted, the only reason Bardem's Mettle and Doma Castle hurt is because people try doing them with old Shire gear. Still an improvement the facerolls that Susano and Lakshmi were.

[silverlunarfox]

If there was so many people who haven't cleared the Royal Menagerie you'd see it prevalently in the trial roulettes, and I haven't had it pop there but maybe once since I got to 70. You don't see it in PF that often either. I think you're grossly overestimating the "considerable" number of people who don't or can't clear the fight.

This. I see Steps and Final Steps way more than Menagerie. That being said, gear prior to entry and it goes WAY easier. The problem when it first dropped is so many were still undergeared. I am assuming however it will get a nerf considering its being added to the ever dreadful minstrels ballad. Our whole FC minus one cleared it easily in the first run or two. the reason why the other person took a week to clear it, is he was bad at the game and just wanted a carry when there were none to be had at that point.... so you say, don't say git gud....but being proficient at the game leads you to easily clear most content.

[Altena]

What I find odd is they seem to have this difficulty curve in leveling dungeons, but it tempers off completely throughout all other forms of content. Granted, the only reason Bardem's Mettle and Doma Castle hurt is because people try doing them with old Shire gear. Still an improvement the facerolls that Susano and Lakshmi were.

Yeah I absolutely agree here.

I mean the dungeon difficulty curve is actually pretty decent. I just finished leveling my first tank of SB and was actually surprised how hard the final boss in Abania hits, and the 2nd boss is not too far off that. This was the case with Heavensward as well, and the earlier "hard mode" dungeons in ARR such as Tam-Tara & WP.
It's like once they hit DR:Expert dungeons they just stop giving a damn about difficulty progression these days.

I, as well, don't disagree with you. The fact that it locks gear behind the trial is more than a bit silly.And it is definitely a step up from other trials to this point. But it's a final boss and gear and dps isn't what prevents people from clearing the fight. What prevents people from clearing it is a basic lack of understanding of mechanics. In this fight in particular, there are really only 3 things that should be difficult for players who are still unaccustomed to mechanics - the chain between players, the earth move, and akh morn (though all of those just rely on remembering previous trials). All of the other mechanics are things that people should use common sense on how to handle:

hellfire (how do I handle fire in the real world, probably something to do with the water on the ground)
judgment bolt (lightning and water don't mix)
tidal wave (probably is gonna push me like in real life, should get as close as I can to avoid getting knocked off)
aerial blast (wind is pushing me from the center, I should probably get as close as I can to avoid being pushed off)
big marker with arrows pointing in (people probably want to stand on top of me)
a crack on a panel (I probably shouldn't stand here unless I absolutely have to)

The game definitely needs a better tutorial, especially with players jumping through story and levels with tales of adventure potions (why isn't the hall of the novice required?) but sometimes the game doesn't need to hold players hands so that they can figure out the mechanics. Sometimes players just need to look within.

Again, I am not saying there is anything wrong with the fight at all. I am simply saying that there is no lead up to it. The difficulty of content people are required to complete beforehand is quite literally faceroll, and it just doesn't really prepare them for that fight.
I am not talking about simple gear check or "not knowing your class" issues like you mentioned - I am talking about mechanics ie. staying alive.

A vet that has done all of the dungeons, 24 man raids, and the primals will know the mechanics as they show up.. However a lot of that content is side content, and someone who is catching up to the game now may have some difficulty in recognizing the mechanics.

I mean my point here is that I understand why some people find it difficult, and a big part of the blame in my eyes, is the lack of a difficulty curve that prepares you for it.

No, it's not a difficult fight, subjectively, compared to a lot of the other content in the game. However for a new comer who is just chipping through the entire story and catching up will likely be seeing a lot of those mechanics for the first time.

Should it be nerfed? Absolutely not. Should there be more fights that progressively get harder through the story so that it prepares people for it? Absolutely.

[Avatre]

What I find odd is they seem to have this difficulty curve in leveling dungeons, but it tempers off completely throughout all other forms of content. Granted, the only reason Bardem's Mettle and Doma Castle hurt is because people try doing them with old Shire gear. Still an improvement the facerolls that Susano and Lakshmi were.

Doing them in all augmented Shire gear isn't that bad. It depends on how good/bad your RNG is(I just finished leveling my BRD on the weekend...was in augmented Shire all the way to 70 - except boots which were Bardam, at 69). The player's skill affects it more than the gear. Yes, the gear does make it so you can deal/take more damage, but the skill will prevent you from eating stuff you shouldn't.