Cutscenes for Castrum Meridianum and Praetorium: A Suggestion

[Lubu_Mykono]

I don't understand why this wasn't the first thing they worked on for the A.I. NPC/Trust/Squadrons. In the future, e.g. 5-10 years from now when the playerbase is considerably smaller you will need that technology/programming to clear a lot of the content Why not priortise the instances that people don't like running now and fix it so its the most productive then work on the more popular stuff later that has less of an impact on players?

[Niwashi]

Meaning, people are running for no other reason than the reward. This means they are not attracted to the content itself.

It's a pavlovian response. You're trained to like it because the rewards are nice.

So, in other words, this is an MMORPG. I think we all knew that.

Sure, I might play an occasional game of solitaire that doesn't offer any rewards, but that's something that can be finished in a matter of minutes. Nobody sticks with a single game for years on end if it's not rewarding them regularly along the way. Everything in the game has rewards, because nothing that didn't would get played much.

[Niwashi]

I don't understand why this wasn't the first thing they worked on for the A.I. NPC/Trust/Squadrons.

It's a good idea, and maybe they'll do that eventually, but I think they'll first have to shift where Squadrons are introduced for it to work.

Currently you cannot even start recruiting members for your squad until you're a 2nd Lieutenant, which in turn requires Aurum Vale, which requires level 47. But then once you unlock squadrons, it takes a while to recruit them and then a while to train them. I'm guessing most people will hit their initial storyline run of Castrum and Praetorium before their squadrons are ready to help.

If they make a change so that you only need to be a Chief Sergeant, or Sergeant First Class to begin recruiting your squadron, it might be a clue that they're going to add squadron use in these two dungeons a patch or two later.

[Claire_Pendragon]

Honestly i love the dungeon as it is now. i still think it needs tweeks, but i run it far more now, than i ever did before the forced cutscenes.

[RokkuEkkusu]

Meaning, people are running for no other reason than the reward. This means they are not attracted to the content itself.

It's a pavlovian response. You're trained to like it because the rewards are nice. You do not enjoy the content itself, in fact you're probably watching Youtube instead.

This is a bad dungeon.

So Van, tell me what do you exactly define as content that you would be attracted to? You can't exactly assume every person runs the MS roulettes strictly for rewards alone or pav-whatever-the-heck the response is.

If we went by logic of doing roulettes that are worth it, people could just run Expert Roulette daily, and a few Extreme Primals/Savage raids here and there to cap their tomes, and call it a day. There would have been no need to run the other roulettes because of the inferior rewards compared to the higher roulettes.

Having fun and enjoying things are in the eyes of the beholder. At the end of the day, you'll just have to respect the fact that people run MS roulette. These 2 dungeons and the roulette rewards won't be going away any time soon.

[MistakeNot]

Meaning, people are running for no other reason than the reward. This means they are not attracted to the content itself.

It's a pavlovian response. You're trained to like it because the rewards are nice. You do not enjoy the content itself, in fact you're probably watching Youtube instead.

This is a bad dungeon.

After you have run any dungeon a few times you have seen the content already. Any future runs are just for potential rewards. The MSQ dungeons are no different.

The first time I ran Castrum Meridanium and Praetorium I did it with my FC so I could watch the cutscenes in peace (this was long before the cutscenes became unskippabale). At that point I found the dungeons to be pretty awesome.
Today I run the MSQ roulette occasionally - just because it is the easiest way of getting tomestones.

After a few runs the cutscenes become rather tiresome, true. But the cutscenes are not aimed at repeat runners.
The cutscenes are there for first time players. The rewards are there to make people do repeat runs.

The dungeons are good for what they are meant to be - a climax of the 2.0 story.

[van_arn]

After you have run any dungeon a few times you have seen the content already. Any future runs are just for potential rewards. The MSQ dungeons are no different.

The first time I ran Castrum Meridanium and Praetorium I did it with my FC so I could watch the cutscenes in peace (this was long before the cutscenes became unskippabale). At that point I found the dungeons to be pretty awesome.
Today I run the MSQ roulette occasionally - just because it is the easiest way of getting tomestones.

After a few runs the cutscenes become rather tiresome, true. But the cutscenes are not aimed at repeat runners.
The cutscenes are there for first time players. The rewards are there to make people do repeat runs.

The dungeons are good for what they are meant to be - a climax of the 2.0 story.

Then let new players see the climax at their own pace and don't waste a pool of mentors who have other people that actually need help.

These dungeons are a waste of 7 people as currently nerfed.

[van_arn]

So Van, tell me what do you exactly define as content that you would be attracted to? You can't exactly assume every person runs the MS roulettes strictly for rewards alone or pav-whatever-the-heck the response is.

If we went by logic of doing roulettes that are worth it, people could just run Expert Roulette daily, and a few Extreme Primals/Savage raids here and there to cap their tomes, and call it a day. There would have been no need to run the other roulettes because of the inferior rewards compared to the higher roulettes.

Having fun and enjoying things are in the eyes of the beholder. At the end of the day, you'll just have to respect the fact that people run MS roulette. These 2 dungeons and the roulette rewards won't be going away any time soon.

If you're not playing the game to get through content, as in this case where people are watching Netflix while unskipable cutscenes fire off, then you are not playing this game.

I will never respect the opinion of someone who considers not playing the game to be engaging content. They have an invalid opinion by mere definition.

[van_arn]

So, in other words, this is an MMORPG. I think we all knew that.

Sure, I might play an occasional game of solitaire that doesn't offer any rewards, but that's something that can be finished in a matter of minutes. Nobody sticks with a single game for years on end if it's not rewarding them regularly along the way. Everything in the game has rewards, because nothing that didn't would get played much.

This being an mmo justifies nothing.

[whiskeybravo]

You can't exactly assume every person runs the MS roulettes strictly for rewards alone or pav-whatever-the-heck the response is.

I think this case is an exception. NO ONE would run unskippable cutscene MSQ roulette if it wasn't for the rewards. Hell, SE knew that and increased the rewards as a result. Pretty obvious.

Adding more rewards doesn't turn "bad" content into "good". Actually it's not even so much that the content is bad, the content is fine, it's the time consumption that's not justified (IMO).

And Van alluded, the content is not so hard as to require 7 other max level players. Even without nerfing it.

The absolute only value I can find on these 2 dungeons, for the new players it's probably the first 8-man content they'll encounter. And that first time feeling of camaraderie and adventure should be awesome and memorable, like you finally jumped into the deep end and realized you can swim just fine.

So IDK, that's worth something I suppose, and I think you'd lose that if it were made a solo instance. At the end of the day, I don't run it and I likely never will unless they change cutscenes, so it doesn't really affect me. If other people want to waste time in there it's their own prerogative.