Tanks in Castrum Meriduam...

[gtasthehunter]

Only need to pull the 2 by each of the lights and then get the lights off no need to pull everything after the lights. Cause Castrum Meriduam is already long enough being unable to skip now no need to make it longer by pulling everything and is it that hard to pull mobs so the cannons can hit them.

Really just try it only pull only 2 by each of the light and all the others past the lights should just go away! Or just walking away Well I can't really be sure anymore cause all everyone does is just pulls everything. If anything there should be less to fight after the lights are darkened, then before!

[Izsha]

At the ilvl we are at now you can just pull the entire section to the boss, start the boss and aoe the boss and entire 1st section of mobs in no time flat.

That strategy mattered more when everyone was ilvl 55 in af gear and tanks had 4k hp. Now they are synched tanks have 8k and dps can blow up the entire room.

[Feidam]

At the ilvl we are at now you can just pull the entire section to the boss, start the boss and aoe the boss and entire 1st section of mobs in no time flat.

That strategy mattered more when everyone was ilvl 55 in af gear and tanks had 4k hp. Now they are synched tanks have 8k and dps can blow up the entire room.

Personally I do think the base strats should be kept. Have had quite a few parties with all brand new players recently who did not have the firepower to ignore every mechanic. And they had no clue how the dungeon is actually run when you have to pay attention.

Edit. I rather enjoyed those dungeons too. I like to teach new players.

[Izsha]

If you happen to get an almost entirely fresh instance of players sure. But that is pretty unlikely. Usually theres af least 1 of the tanks and 1 of the healers that are synched and enough dps that thenstrat doesnt really matter. But if you happen to get a party of sprouts, by all means show them how to fight stuff you dont out gear. But if the party outgears the content it hardly matters how you tackle it when you can muscle through anything.

[kidalutz]

Having ran that Castrum so many times I've pretty much come tot he conclusion that nobody follows the checklist. Turn off Searchlight...... *watch everyone but myself try to sneak past the pat guarding the searchlights only to promptly pull the mobs standing gaurd and get everyone killed.

[Iscah]

The thing that annoys me is that people turn off the searchlights while the tank has the whole pack of enemies on them, which triggers the cutscene and makes things messier.

Even more so, the enemies that guard the parade ground towers. Exactly once I've been in a party that stopped and defeated them before turning off the searchlight and triggering the gunship, and it was the most gloriously simple run I've ever seen. Kill the enemies, turn off the searchlight, watch the cutscene, then straight to the cannons and the gunship was down in seconds. Can't remember if we even had to deal with the colossi, but the tanks would have been free to grab one each.

That part is usually such a mess, and the "do it as fast as possible by pulling everything" mentality actually makes it slower and harder. But that's the way it's always done, and nobody sees it happen the other way.

[The_Last_Dragoon]

snip

Castrum Meridianum was boring, and isn't far off from the real worst dungeon from 2.0, The Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak. I mean honestly, the first 3 boss fights are "This is a tank and spank boss that spawns adds, and the only real fight with any meat to it includes most of your party just standing around clicking a pile of missles, killing minor adds, until finally shooting the boss with a cannon. Of course then you get the last fight of yet another tank and spank boss that spawns "big" adds.

The only reason why cannons are there in the first place is to trivialize the dungeon inbetween bosses, they were never integral to the survival of the party, they were desired because it allowed players to wash their hands of this filth of a dungeon faster.

Honestly, I'm teaching a friend who's new to the game the basics and we're trying to go through all of the ARR patch dungeons/Crystal Tower so he can learn some of the more basic mechanics, but I went out of my way to tell him that neither of the two lv50 story dungeons do a good job of teaching anything to newer players.

[SleepyNeko]

I personally favor pulling only the 2 pack then switching off the lights. Because I want 1 sprint to last all the way to the end and you have to turn off the lights to spawn the boss so might as well wait for the lights.

But best time saver is after the second boss, after killing the giant that guards the door, pull the upstairs mob without going on the ramp then Caster LB 2 both groups.

[Feidam]

Castrum Meridianum was boring, and isn't far off from the real worst dungeon from 2.0, The Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak. I mean honestly, the first 3 boss fights are "This is a tank and spank boss that spawns adds, and the only real fight with any meat to it includes most of your party just standing around clicking a pile of missles, killing minor adds, until finally shooting the boss with a cannon. Of course then you get the last fight of yet another tank and spank boss that spawns "big" adds.

The only reason why cannons are there in the first place is to trivialize the dungeon inbetween bosses, they were never integral to the survival of the party, they were desired because it allowed players to wash their hands of this filth of a dungeon faster.

Honestly, I'm teaching a friend who's new to the game the basics and we're trying to go through all of the ARR patch dungeons/Crystal Tower so he can learn some of the more basic mechanics, but I went out of my way to tell him that neither of the two lv50 story dungeons do a good job of teaching anything to newer players.

Castrum was there to teach mechanics based fights in prep for fights like steps of faith.

[The_Last_Dragoon]

Castrum was there to teach mechanics based fights in prep for fights like steps of faith.

Stone Vigil (Hard) prepares you for Steps of Faith since the adds are very similar to the bosses of that dungeon. Not only does Castrum fail to feature any future mechanic besides dodge the AoE, but the only slight similarity I can find where you might think Castrum prepares players for Steps of Faith is the fact it has cannons. Unfortunately, these cannons from steps more closely mimic those found in the Cuca Fera fight that is once again found in Stone Vigil (Hard) and in fact have to be used in an exact manner to that boss fight when the turtle adds show up.

There's plenty of fun dungeons with great teaching moments, but it's time to face the facts that neither Castrum Meridianum nor Praetorium is one of 'em.