Praetorium - Worst Experience Ever

[Morningstar1337]

Biggest issue with MSQ roulette is that there’s only two of them.... there’s hundreds of dungeons which are MSQ mandatory to progress and yet these two are the only two? Maybe SE should add more to the roulette and make it a roulette rather than a coin toss. Expert “roulette” has the exact same issue.

The issue is that Prae and Castrum are the ONLY dungeons that require 8 people to queve and that every other dungeon in the game are so short that people would perefer them to the pair.

Plus there is an overlap with Leveling (Satasha, Copperbell, Tam-Tara, Stone Vigil, Bralyflox, and everything from Sohm Al onward), X0, 80 and Expert (Keeper, ARF, Baelsar's Wall, Aumarot, Ala Mhigo, Anamensis, Skalla, etc) due to the MSQ requirement.

With Prae specifically there are a few lingering issues that affects new and lagging players. The first being the already mentioned skippable packs, but the second is that the Lifts can be activated without all 8 players, which means that at best it's an inconvenience for players to resummon the lift, but if their hardware and internet are not up to snuff, it can easily snowball into a uncrossable gap and face them to just wait at the bulwark (something I'd also argue is bad design, a point where players have to visit twice, and thus a point where players can wait for the others to "catch up"). I feel like adressing the lifts and the skippable mobs would go a way towards ensuring that newer players would not be left behind and be more consistent with their making the cutscenes unskippable.

[EaMett]

I'm going to go with the middle ground here:

This only concerns two dungeons, Prae and Castrum. Prae is the worse one because of the TP skips at the beginning really not being beginner-friendly since you need to know to do them and not hit any monsters in the process.

With that said, they are also pointless pulls that tell you nothing and show you nothing, and if you had just decided to rez and follow them via the catch up tp thingy at the entrance (when you raise) you would have gotten 99% of the dungeon experience, seen all the cutscenes and wouldn't be here posting about this.
In addition to this, this dungeon is a dungeon you'll be doing so often in your ff14 career that you will be sick and tired of it before long. I 100% guarantee you you'll be rushing through it as fast as possible.

Two things happened that led to your experience:
1) Your party failed to inform you about what to do for the first two pulls. That's on them
2) You gave up way too easily. That's on you.

Know that you can do this again and will be running it many many times moving forward. And know that it's also the last dungeon of it's sort. From here on out you will no longer run into these issues.

[Avidria]

Biggest issue with MSQ roulette is that there’s only two of them.... there’s hundreds of dungeons which are MSQ mandatory to progress and yet these two are the only two? Maybe SE should add more to the roulette and make it a roulette rather than a coin toss. Expert “roulette” has the exact same issue.

Who would this help? MSQ roulette is better off separate because they're the only two dungeons in the game with multiple unskippable cutscenes, need 8 people, and have a massive experience payoff because of the aforementioned unskippable cutscenes. Heck, if you added other things to it, you'd probably just end up with more people bailing at the start... either because they didn't get Prae, which people already do in Castrum, or because they did get Prae, which is a significantly higher time commitment by default than most other dungeons in the game.

Frankly if they're going to do anything at all to these two dungeons, it should be to make them solo duties and take the hit of losing the huge exp roulette. These are two of the worst designed dungeons I've encountered in any MMO I've played

[Yue_Amariyo]

I joined Praetorium via Duty Finder to continue the MSQ. All of the other players kept rushing through the instance, skipping mobs and interacting with objectives without me knowing what to do. The FIRST thing I said in Party chat was that I was new. When I told them I didn't know where to go, or what to do, they said "That's Praetorium". I tried to abandon the duty but their rushing got me stuck in combat and I could not. So instead I left the game. I waited over 20 minutes hoping it would time me out of the instance. It did not. Now I am seeing the ending of the MSQ with NO idea what happened.

This is ridiculous. Why are MSQ dungeons able to be run like this? Why are MSQ chapters played in public dungeons at ALL? Why are there not separate versions of the instance for story/experienced player purposes?

I've missed out on some prior iconic fights due to this behavior. And it was very upsetting. But this instance is by far the worst. And it's the climax of a major story thread.

I will not play the game like this. I will not log into my character to immediately see a spoiled ending. I asked support if they can roll back my progress, or at least teleport me out of the dungeon so I don't see the cutscene. But if they are like support in most other games, the answer will probably be no.

If you are one of the people who blitz through content when new players are in the party, without a care for their experience, you are ruining that experience. And if support cannot help roll me back, I will not be continuing my sub.

It's a shame. Outside of dungeons, the community seems very fun and friendly. I love the PvE content in this game. I love crafting and gathering. But progressing in those things requires progressing the MSQ. And that requires dungeons. And people who run dungeons just do not care about other people. Especially new players.

from my research it has been run like that since launch. Most mobs are negligible from what im told. as in even new players bum rushed it, as most 1.0 players were already lvl 50 going into arr. when it comes to df you have to adapt to the group. If you want content run a certain way, make friends and run that content together as the pace you want.

Also before you say: <hello first time here, mind we go at a slower pace?> or at least say you are new. If you get ignored, or bullied ask for a votekick or leave and get a 30min penalty.

[Barraind]

from my research it has been run like that since launch

Have never killed the packs at those 2 spots. Been many, many years. They're pointless, and always have been.

[Shougun]

I used to kill them when it was new enough that most of the party was first timers, but that hasn't been true for quite some time - these days if you don't take care of it smoothly and rush then someone will rush and make it chaotic. Better just to let new people know what to do while the loading barrier shuts down.


It can be helpful for someone to not just face pull them like I see sometimes people do, as new people might draw aggro before they realize to read chat / see that they need to touch something.

[AngelCheese77]

Whooo lordy I'm from the time where people were forced to skip cutscenes and watch them from the inn room. Due to a lot of yelling, SE made it so people are 'forced' to watch the cutscenes.

Now, not to make excuses, but Praetorium has been run a million times by many who are doing the roulette for the extra tomes. So yeah you will run into a-hats from time to time (heck I still do). And I do agree, such an important part of the storyline would have been better with a long cutscene and then get a group of people to fight the end boss.

Don't give up on the game. What you ran into is a very very small fraction of things. There is a lot of awesome out there.

[AngelCheese77]

Also has other people have said you have not missed anything and I sense a strong sense of entitlement from you. Why is it do some people feel just because they are new people should bend over backwards to help them or be as accessible as possible? As I tell people in NN if you want a "proper" experience with those two MSQ encounters setup a party finder or run with friends and FC memebers. By no means should one expect a proper experience via DF cause even if people do not purposly skip the cutscenes the encounter will be over in 1 to 2 min tops if prople go hard on damage.

Sad what I read here. Essentially telling new players to play the game a certain way. Telling them to find a FC (when many don't want to) or starting a PF (which can take damn forever).

Is it wrong to say you are new and get a bit of help? I don't think so. Heck even I take a few minutes to explain things or say a few words. This is one of many reasons people leave the game.

[Awha]

Sad what I read here. Essentially telling new players to play the game a certain way. Telling them to find a FC (when many don't want to) or starting a PF (which can take damn forever).

Is it wrong to say you are new and get a bit of help? I don't think so. Heck even I take a few minutes to explain things or say a few words. This is one of many reasons people leave the game.

It is not wrong, but honestly would not be shocked if no one in the group cared all that much that someone was new, and to expect as much seems foolish. Reason I mention running it with an FC or set up a PF at the very least hopefully you are able to run it at your desired pace with like minded individuals. Cause the reality is i am willing to bet most people straight up do not run MSQ to help people they do it for the rewards.

Being new is some some free pass for people to automatically help someone out as sad or annoying as people may find it.

[TyrTry]

Sad what I read here. Essentially telling new players to play the game a certain way. Telling them to find a FC (when many don't want to) or starting a PF (which can take damn forever).

Is it wrong to say you are new and get a bit of help? I don't think so. Heck even I take a few minutes to explain things or say a few words. This is one of many reasons people leave the game.

Do you want an honest answer or a lie?

Because telling you that people will always accept saying that your new and that will make things easier is a lie.

Saying that your new will not necessarily do squat in 8 man or 24 man. Especially MSQ.

You want to run things without problems in which you can communicate your concerns for adjustments? Find an FC of make a PF is your best bet.