Casturm Merdidiam/The preatorium need to change or go.

[Beelhi]

In my opion the cut-scence skippping should be disabled during Castrum Meridiam and the Pratorium.

The problem with this is that if cutscene skipping was disabled, nobody would run it. I really feel for the people soloqueueing it for the first time but because SE decided to make it one of the main ways to get poetics you cant blame people for not waiting after having run it almost every day for years. I dont wait for new players but i atleast try to show them the way or tell them what to do and mark things. Blame the system, not the players. I always offer my friends or new fc members to make a party with 2 tanks and 2 heals so they can either enjoy the cutscenes as they come or atleast dont get left behind.

[Maeka]

What they COULD do, is do this:

1). Add this instance to the Mentor Roulette if it isn't there already.
2). Anybody specific-Qing for either of these instances will get people from Mentor Roulette whenever possible.
3). Anybody who Qs for these as a roulette will not be placed into the same group with Newbies unless it is absolutely necessary.

That way, Speedrunners and Mentors/Newbies get separated. If Mentors can't be bothered to slow down for newbies, then they shouldn't be Mentors.

[RylaBee]

I would go with instances being solo, with NPC companions (Scions) and last bosses turned into Trials (Livia and Ultima respectively).

Remember that for new players, Merridianum is one of first 8-man dungeons, and its usually the first place where they realise that in 8-man, other players are NOT locked until everybody finishes cutscenes.
Therefore you finish your first cutscene and see the whole party is gone, probably already fighting first miniboss.

As a new player, I can confirm the current experience from game immersion perspective is abysmal for both these instances.
It is by far the most story-breaking experience I have seen on my way to 70, second being the super boring filler-quests plaguing questline preceding Heavensward.
The HW and Stormblood MSQ are luckily huge improvements.

[NephthysVasudan]

I would go with instances being solo, with NPC companions (Scions) and last bosses turned into Trials (Livia and Ultima respectively).

Remember that for new players, Merridianum is one of first 8-man dungeons, and its usually the first place where they realise that in 8-man, other players are NOT locked until everybody finishes cutscenes.
Therefore you finish your first cutscene and see the whole party is gone, probably already fighting first miniboss.

As a new player, I can confirm the current experience from game immersion perspective is abysmal for both these instances.
It is by far the most story-breaking experience I have seen on my way to 70, second being the super boring filler-quests plaguing questline preceding Heavensward.
The HW and Stormblood MSQ are luckily huge improvements.

Dont forget nero and gaius.

[NephthysVasudan]

What they COULD do, is do this:

1). Add this instance to the Mentor Roulette if it isn't there already.
2). Anybody specific-Qing for either of these instances will get people from Mentor Roulette whenever possible.
3). Anybody who Qs for these as a roulette will not be placed into the same group with Newbies unless it is absolutely necessary.

That way, Speedrunners and Mentors/Newbies get separated. If Mentors can't be bothered to slow down for newbies, then they shouldn't be Mentors.

You make the assumption that mentors are actually doing their job....when I see them NOT doing their job.

[Maeka]

You make the assumption that mentors are actually doing their job....when I see them NOT doing their job.

Mentors can have their status revoked. If a newbie ends up in one of these dungeons with some mentors who refuse to do their job, said mentors can be reported. And you'd have 8 people there... maybe 1-2 newbies and 6-7 mentors. I'm pretty sure if 1-2 mentors were refusing to do their job, they would either run off by themselves and get killed, or they'd be vote-kicked by the remaining mentors.

OR they'd simply get frustrated and leave.

OR they'd get reported by the newbies after the dungeon run.

[Vshunyi]

SE really needs to just get rid of the in-dungeon cutscenes. Move what you can to before and after the instance. It's probably going to be quite a bit of work, but these dungeons really need it. It's a shame that they stopped making 8-man dungeons since they're really cool in concenpt. It really wouldn't be this hated if not for the sixteen billion cutscenes one after another.

[Ekimmak]

SE really needs to just get rid of the in-dungeon cutscenes. Move what you can to before and after the instance. It's probably going to be quite a bit of work, but these dungeons really need it. It's a shame that they stopped making 8-man dungeons since they're really cool in concenpt. It really wouldn't be this hated if not for the sixteen billion cutscenes one after another.

What makes it really bad is that even if you're a newbie desperately skipping cutscenes to avoid getting locked out, it can happen anyway, thanks to cutscenes that come one after another in rapid succession ensuring that the 20 seconds it takes to catch up is the times it takes to lock you out out of the fight.

[Nyghtmarerobu]

Its nice to see people keep discussing this, but in all honesty, this is just -ONE- screw up on their end, and it hasn't happened since. SE Will not go back and fix this, its not a major problem. There are ways around this with unsynced help from your FC or PF groups where you get like-minded people who want to experience it the original way. SE has since fixed this problem after these 2 dungeouns. You will only get CS's before and after fights/dungeouns and never during. So while I agree that these 2 dungeouns could use tweaks to fix glaring problems and issues, the dev team doesn't REALLY need to be wasting resources on this when we have other matters like housing, job balance, and much more pressing matters that should be addressed.

[Squintina]

Its nice to see people keep discussing this, but in all honesty, this is just -ONE- screw up on their end, and it hasn't happened since. SE Will not go back and fix this, its not a major problem. There are ways around this with unsynced help from your FC or PF groups where you get like-minded people who want to experience it the original way. SE has since fixed this problem after these 2 dungeouns. You will only get CS's before and after fights/dungeouns and never during. So while I agree that these 2 dungeouns could use tweaks to fix glaring problems and issues, the dev team doesn't REALLY need to be wasting resources on this when we have other matters like housing, job balance, and much more pressing matters that should be addressed.

I agree it's not probably not worth redesigning the dungeons, but they could find small little ways to alleviate.
Not sure if everyone remembers, but when you get to the end of 2.X's second MSQ (astral), there is an actual warning in the game that a ton of custscenes are about to happen.

They could do something similar - A warning for both of these dungeons that a lot of cutscenes exist and that it is therefore recommended to go with a group of friends, or party finder, or mentors from the novice network. They could also explain how to watch the custscenes in the inn (as let's face it a lot of people who haven't been using it might have forgotten how it works).

They could also reorganize the cutscenes in the inn so that a person doesn't have to switch between 2 sections to watch them all. Right now you start with the MSQ ones for the ones just as it starts, then move on to the Duty section, then back to the MSQ ones, it's quite confusing. They fixed that in MSQ instances in 3.X by including the duty cutscenes as part of the MSQ cutscenes whenever MSQ makes a player go to a dungeon.

It wouldn't take up much resources to pop up a warning and reorganize, and then people who don't look up things on google will not end up surprised when they suddenly queue and get left behind.