Please Reconsider MSQ Changes

[Tlamila]

I see most people defending the changes never actually did the roulette themselves, they're more like "once 2 years ago I helped someone through it and we didn't skip cutscenes"- Ah, good job, now do it every day on DF so it can actually help everybody and we see how you like the change.

I was doing MSQ roulette every day or almost and on two characters, was decent xp, easy run, and I'd get to help newbies queue times. Now there's absolutely no way I'm ever touching this roulette again. And so most people who ran it regularly. A lot of newbies will be so discouraged by waiting times now that they'll probably quit the game entirely. DPS was getting half an hour queue now, what will they get after patch, 3h queue and then 1h run? Who has that kind of time and patience?
I also personally don't see the problem with watching cutscenes at the inn, you even get a better experience because there's only your character in them and not a bunch of weirdly dressed strangers, so it really feels like being the WoL. Many, even, even if first timers don't like watching cutscenes at all. I understand a lot want the full experience of the dungeon, but either you get that or people to run it with, both are not realistically possible. Even back at launch, when everybody was still running that, those instances had long queues!
I personally saw a lot of newbies watching cutscenes and being told nothing, if anything it was bad for them watching them as they'd miss the fights (which imho in Prae are quite nice, and that's the dungeon where if you watch cutscenes you miss ALL the fights). The problem I was seeing being big is people rushing ahead of trash without tanks actually getting aggro, so anyone left behind (mostly newbies, or those who stay behind to try and keep newbies alive) ends up dying and/or getting lost. Which I'm sure not only this change won't fix but will make even worse, since people will try even more to rush to make up for the time spent in cutscenes. So not only sprouts will have impossible queues, they'll also likely get an even worse experience. Pretty much SE couldn't have done worse even if it tried.

[Hiply]

I see most people defending the changes never actually did the roulette themselves, they're more like "once 2 years ago I helped someone through it and we didn't skip cutscenes"- Ah, good job, now do it every day on DF so it can actually help everybody and we see how you like the change.

This could have been mitigated to some extent with the inclusion of a fairly simple if/else switch. If the group contains a player who has never seen the dungeon before (easy, they are already flagged that way to enable the bonus for first timers being in the group) then mandatory cutscenes would be enforced, if not then they wouldn't be. I know it wouldn't eliminate the issue entirely, but it would help.

[SleepyPoposa]

Do you plan to do only MSQ for all of your playtime so that newbies can always get in? And are you gonna make alts on other data centers? What happens when you're at work/class/asleep?

That's like saying that I should be the only one in the world to help the needy. It should be a group effort, just like teaching a new to understand what's going on in a dungeon they've never been in before. But screw that! I don't have time to let you experience the game; I have a dungeon to grind! That's not what I signed up for by selecting MSQ roulette!


To be fair, it's an extreme change and definitely isn't the best solution. But Squeenix's bigger mistake is that they keep bribing players to help each other out. They need to just go ahead and make solo/story versions for the MSQ. It's the only way newbies will be able to experience the story at their own pace, while also be guaranteed to clear it.

[BillyKaplan]

I for one can't say it's badly designed without even experiencing it in its entirety ever. Same with most everyone, we don't have qualified opinions on them for sure.

You just proved it's horribly designed that such a thing is even possible. And no, strong-arming anyone who goes in there to go through the entire experience when even a lot of newbies don't care about the cutscenes is not the way to fix this.

However, these dungeons don't sound like something I would do on the daily. But if it's a one time thing for everyone and they're essential to the story, they're worth a go.

You've brought up the problem while ignoring it completely. No one will have that proper experience with full cutscenes if the queue doesn't pop, and the queue won't pop because no one will queue for that roulette with those changes to begin with. You just said as much yourself, after a fashion.
You know what's good for taking it at your own pace and only run through it the once? Solo instances :^) just saying. Also solves the queue issues if you don't have the entire game trying to break through Raubahn (Savage) at the same time so the instances server crashes.

[AnimaAnimus]

I haven't read all these pages but has anyone brought up the fact that even if you have no new players in your pt you still need to sit through them all. I run this roulette almost every day for quick and easy xp and more often than not there are no new ppl. They could have at least made the condition of there has to be a newbie to lock into cs. If they did, then I completely missed that in the notes.

[Tlamila]

I haven't read all these pages but has anyone brought up the fact that even if you have no new players in your pt you still need to sit through them all. I run this roulette almost every day for quick and easy xp and more often than not there are no new ppl. They could have at least made the condition of there has to be a newbie to lock into cs. If they did, then I completely missed that in the notes.

They have and yes, I too often get parties with 0 new people, though I imagine it won't happen now since hardly anyone not new will be queuing at all.

[XiXiQ]

I see most people defending the changes never actually did the roulette themselves.

well I have been doing it on a daily basis for a while, and I have also been quite happy to wait when someone is new and watching cutscenes. I'll likely continue to do it if I am levelling something (or have a need for poetics). This change is really only going to affect the chronically impatient in the end, to declare "no one is going to do it ever" is somewhat of an exaggeration. I'm sure all the "watch the scenes at the inn or we're kicking you" bullies will stay away in droves - and that's precisely the point of this change.
I might be overly optimistic, but I'd hope there are far less of them around than the more understanding players.

[Krotoan]

I run this roulette almost every day for quick and easy xp

The roulette is not there for you to get XP, it's there to help people with their story.
Sorry you have one less option, but this is an... interesting.. attempt to address all the people who wanted to experience the story but couldn't because when they DF'd the quests they got shotgunned through it.

[BillyKaplan]

I might be overly optimistic, but I'd hope there are far less of them around than the more understanding players.

I think there are much less new players who need that content than people who actually ran that roulette regularly and don't need this change to the point they're quitting it. So ironically, this change isn't even going to benefit all that many people, if it'll benefit them at all given the (presumed) slowed down queue times.

Also, a question to all the people who say things like "I'll finally be able to see it the proper way" - while not fully the proper way (canonically you're supposed to run through it with a party), have you considered unsyncing it on your level 70 and seeing the cutscenes at least?

[Louvain]

I just want to point out for those going to try to MSQ Roulette with the changes to keep in mind that the roulette times and the attitude of the party when the patch first drops compared to what it'll be like in a month or two (more normalized) will most likely be a little different. So if you runt eh first week don't accept that was a statement of what it's going to be like a majority of the time.