People able to skip cutscenes in MSQ roullete o.o

[RareItems]

I'm running Preatorium right now and at the start someone said something about pressing alt+f4 would let you skip it. Not sure if I should try it as I know Alt+f4 is supposed to close the current program your using xD. But so far the person who said it and 2 others are able to start fighting mobs/iron giant well before the cutscene is over. Any idea what that person could be talking about? xD.

[Ilenya]

I'm running Preatorium right now and at the start someone said something about pressing alt+f4 would let you skip it. Not sure if I should try it as I know Alt+f4 is supposed to close the current program your using xD. But so far the person who said it and 2 others are able to start fighting mobs/iron giant well before the cutscene is over. Any idea what that person could be talking about? xD.

They are actually correct, annoying as it is. Disconnecting and reconnecting skips the cutscenes. The fact that people are abusing it is worrying, though.

[KaivaC]

They are actually correct, annoying as it is. Disconnecting and reconnecting skips the cutscenes. The fact that people are abusing it is worrying, though.

Hmm...I worry that if this gets more prevalent and devs catch wind of this, they might take yet another heavy handed approach. They need to just go ahead and cave in, and turn this into a solo instance. Give players the option to either run with their squadron (make it an option for earning Captain-rank...which actually fits in nicely with lore, given that you are pretty much single-handedly taking on Baelsar's legion), or pre-made NPCs. Both options with adjusted enemy HP would work fine, especially given how prominent solo-instances have become lately.

[Ilenya]

If I had to guess, the devs don't want to change too much more with the dungeon if they don't have to. That said, it wouldn't surprise me if they started putting blocks before every boss fight like the one at the start of the dungeons to avoid issues.

[BillyKaplan]

Give players the option to either run with their squadron (make it an option for earning Captain-rank...which actually fits in nicely with lore, given that you are pretty much single-handedly taking on Baelsar's legion)

The worst case scenario is that a fresh player hits these dungeons and feels compelled to go back, level up the GC rank, and then level up their squad, which takes days. And for people already out of that content, I'd personally hate to revisit it in any way shape or form, least of all for the Captain rank.
The best thing they can do is give you generic NPCs. The only "drawback" I can think of is that it can't be GC NPCs as it's explicitly said to be an Adventurer's squad so they'd have to actually design them, but it's not like they're low on designs. Hell, they can even throw in there unused Squad candidates you haven't recruited yet.

[KaivaC]

The worst case scenario is that a fresh player hits these dungeons and feels compelled to go back, level up the GC rank, and then level up their squad, which takes days. And for people already out of that content, I'd personally hate to revisit it in any way shape or form, least of all for the Captain rank.
The best thing they can do is give you generic NPCs. The only "drawback" I can think of is that it can't be GC NPCs as it's explicitly said to be an Adventurer's squad so they'd have to actually design them, but it's not like they're low on designs. Hell, they can even throw in there unused Squad candidates you haven't recruited yet.

I think there would be room to have three options, to be honest. Go in with your squadron (option should only pop if all squadron members are at level 50), go in with pre-mades, or go in with other players - in the event that there aren't enough players, fill remaining slots with NPCs. Really, there's so much that could be done with the these two MSQs. The idea for Captain rank wasn't meant to be the only requisite, I just just that out there as an alternate prerequisite. I mean, I'm sure it's within the realm of possibility. If we could get what we got in 4.3 (will not spoil it), then I'm sure the Meridunum and Praetorium could be turned into decent solo duties. Just make sure to put up the warning that this will be a long instance to players before they accept it.

[Nixxe]

They are actually correct, annoying as it is. Disconnecting and reconnecting skips the cutscenes. The fact that people are abusing it is worrying, though.

When people would rather force close and reboot the client a dozen times per run rather than watch the cutscenes, you'd hope the devs get the hint. Changing it the way they did was just a dumb idea.

[Dogempire]

When people would rather force close and reboot the client a dozen times per run rather than watch the cutscenes, you'd hope the devs get the hint. Changing it the way they did was just a dumb idea.

I agree, how dare these first timers enjoy the finale of the game they paid for instead of being forced to choose between missing the cutscenes or doing the fights.

How dare these new players want to enjoy the storyline instead of enjoying the experience of speedrunning the content to farm tomestones.

How dare these people not want to enjoy the authentic and extremely climactic experience of going to an inn and watching 2 dungeons worth of cutscenes after the fact because people only want to get their tomestone reward as fast as possible and then leave without saying a word. People who play this game are completely selfless and wouldn't complain about a dungeon they voluntarily que for taking much longer with no regard to the experience of the new player, nor how upset they would be watching the final cutscenes take place as they have no idea what happened between them.

Not to mention that the sentient grizzly bear that sits in your room holding a gun to your head and forcing you to que for Main Scenario roulette doesn't care how long the dungeon takes, and will make you que for the roulette every day without fail.

[Enla]

I agree, how dare these first timers enjoy the finale of the game they paid for instead of being forced to choose between missing the cutscenes or doing the fights.

How dare these new players want to enjoy the storyline instead of enjoying the experience of speedrunning the content to farm tomestones.

How dare these people not want to enjoy the authentic and extremely climactic experience of going to an inn and watching 2 dungeons worth of cutscenes after the fact because people only want to get their tomestone reward as fast as possible and then leave without saying a word. People who play this game are completely selfless and wouldn't complain about a dungeon they voluntarily que for taking much longer with no regard to the experience of the new player, nor how upset they would be watching the final cutscenes take place as they have no idea what happened between them.

Not to mention that the sentient grizzly bear that sits in your room holding a gun to your head and forcing you to que for Main Scenario roulette doesn't care how long the dungeon takes, and will make you que for the roulette every day without fail.

Where in their post were they maligning first timers?

It's pretty much universally agreed upon that those two instances were terribly designed. Which is why going forward you /never/ saw something of their ilk again within the game. I don't think most people are of the opinion that new players don't matter, or at least I've seen that sentiment slowly dissolve away as time has gone by. Rather that they feel there were better ways to fix these instances than to basically throw a bandaid at the issue and hope it goes away. Especially when not every new player appreciates being held hostage for upwards of two hours. I know I didn't back when I joined, I happily skipped the cutscenes because I found the story wanting and those dungeons did nothing to help my impression. If anything, I'd likely be browsing reddit the entire time had I come to this game after the 'fixes' were implemented.

It's very possible to want first timers to experience the dungeons in an organic way while finding the current solution lacking in almost every way. If I were to suggest a new one, I would point to Kaiva's thoughts on the matter.

[Nixxe]

I agree, how dare these first timers enjoy the finale of the game they paid for instead of being forced to choose between missing the cutscenes or doing the fights.

How dare these new players want to enjoy the storyline instead of enjoying the experience of speedrunning the content to farm tomestones.

How dare these people not want to enjoy the authentic and extremely climactic experience of going to an inn and watching 2 dungeons worth of cutscenes after the fact because people only want to get their tomestone reward as fast as possible and then leave without saying a word. People who play this game are completely selfless and wouldn't complain about a dungeon they voluntarily que for taking much longer with no regard to the experience of the new player, nor how upset they would be watching the final cutscenes take place as they have no idea what happened between them.

Not to mention that the sentient grizzly bear that sits in your room holding a gun to your head and forcing you to que for Main Scenario roulette doesn't care how long the dungeon takes, and will make you que for the roulette every day without fail.

That is an intense persecution complex.

It's possible to realize the experience sucks for new players without taking it out on the veteran players by making an even worse bandaid fix. I don't queue for MSQ by the way. It's a roulette that I lost because of the idiotic change they made to it. You clearly think yourself a spokesperson for new players, but I know when I was a new player I started skipping cut scenes because I felt bad for not helping. Knowing everyone is stuck watching 30 minutes of mostly useless filler each time they do it just so I could watch them in peace wouldn't feel any better. I watched every single other cut scene the first time through, but Praetorium is absurd and I just went back and watched them in the inn. When the roles were reversed and I was the veteran player, I had no issue if people watched the cut scenes. It takes like three people to clear Praetorium, so they're not hurting anything. That's the way it should have been left.

This way though? People obviously hate it. I'd be very surprised if participation rates aren't lower than they previously were, which means higher queue times for players who actually need to clear the content. If they fix people alt+f4ing out of it, those people will probably stop queuing for it as well, further driving up queue times. People who would rather new players have an ideal experience or none at all, even if the latter is an inadvertent consequence, are not friends to new players, no matter how they may see themselves.