Please equalize rewards between Castrum and Prae

[Rein_eon_Osborne]

Like which ones? No other dungeon in the game behaves the way Castrum and Prae do, and that is why they have their own roulette. And since the devs vowed to never design content in that fashion for FFXIV ever again.

Which one? The ones that are required to progress through the MSQ, of course (Main Scenario Roulette; CM and Prae aren't the only 'main scenario dungeons'). Of course it's just a wishful thought of mine as that idea means they have to rework all the other roulettes to compensate the changes. (i.e. dividing the MSQ and the optional unlockable ones). To dwell further into this thought however will inevitably stray further from the OP's topic though, so I'll stop right here.

Fact remains that this roulette is totally optional. The exp, tomes, and gil are all obtainable through other means; some of which are more efficient choices for the player, so there is totally no obligation to do this roulette at all. That being said, it is quite easy for someone like myself to surmise that players are deliberately queuing into this roulette to find something to complain about, or they actually enjoy the brainless content for the amount of time they are in there so they can kick their feet up while getting some crazy easy EXP or tomes.

And I hard agree with you that they are never ever be mandatory. It is however understandable how easy one can 'trick themselves' and disenchanted by the way SE present the content (MSQ roulette) and the 'looks-hefty' reward. I don't really complain how the MSQ roulette works since I do understand why SE made those changes.

[Payadopa]

Why are people complaining about this?
I have literally done the MSQ roulette like 5 times and haven't touched it in what feels like years. Just don't do it. It's that simple.

[LaughingBanana]

I never actually bailed even if I get Castrum.

I mean, it's kinda disrespectful to the people that come together with me. Yes, yes, I know they're complete strangers so many would be whatever but I would feel bad if I do it.

[Kyuuen]

Equalizing the exp rewards shouldn't change fishing behavior. The initial want and desire for castrum will of course go up, but if the player is of any rational level of intelligence will simply eat the Prae seeing as the 30 minute penalty + castrum = close to the average Prae run, perhaps even longer pending the que time.

[Packetdancer]

Looking as you joined forum in 2019 I'm assuming you started playing not much earlier (can be wrong as somebody who joined forum more than a year after starting playing).

*raises hand* I started in 2.0 -- actually I started in 1.0, but quit and then lost that account because it was tied to a dead email, so started over with 2.0 -- and only bothered to join the forum in like, late 2019.

Anyway...

Cutscenes were skippable in the past. This game's playerbase's toxic attitude towards new players became exactly the reason why it was changed and now they are unskippable. Thank the gang that was kicking players from dungeon if they wanted to watch cutscenes and kept saying "watch it in the inn" even though new players deserved to watch it right in the dungeon just as we did when the game came out.

I'll note that in addition, back in the day, the cutscenes had dialogue options; for instance, when Gaius asks "Tell me, for whom do you fight?" you got to actually choose what to say. (Which makes his response of "Hmph, how glib." to your silence in the current cutscene somewhat unintentionally hilarious.) So even if people were watching the cutscenes, they'd finish at different times. To add to this, for some reason (possibly because of that dialogue option), the Gaius elevator scene did not appear in the inn book at the time, so if you skipped it in the dungeon you would never see it.

So you'd either watch the scenes (and have people charging on ahead, leaving you all alone and confused when you finished) or you had to insta-skip the cutscenes to stick with everyone (thus being unclear what the actual ending of A Realm Reborn was)... or you had people who saw you were a first-timer and kicked you so they wouldn't have to wait.

That roulette is there not for the benefit of endgame players; it's for the benefit of new players going through that instance, to ensure they can fill out a party. The rewards for the roulette are not for running the instance, they're for making yourself available to fill the instances where needed. As such, that's why cutscenes are no longer skippable.

And this is also why every time someone suggests "the cutscenes should be skippable if no one is a first-timer", I wince; if that were the case, I absolutely believe people would see a first-timer bonus at the beginning and either quit (so they could rejoin a new instance later where there'd be no newbie), or if there was an obvious sprout, just kick them to get a replacement so they could skip all the cutscenes.

[van_arn]

*raises hand* I started in 2.0 -- actually I started in 1.0, but quit and then lost that account because it was tied to a dead email, so started over with 2.0 -- and only bothered to join the forum in like, late 2019.

Anyway...



I'll note that in addition, back in the day, the cutscenes had dialogue options; for instance, when Gaius asks "Tell me, for whom do you fight?" you got to actually choose what to say. (Which makes his response of "Hmph, how glib." to your silence in the current cutscene somewhat unintentionally hilarious.) So even if people were watching the cutscenes, they'd finish at different times. To add to this, for some reason (possibly because of that dialogue option), the Gaius elevator scene did not appear in the inn book at the time, so if you skipped it in the dungeon you would never see it.

So you'd either watch the scenes (and have people charging on ahead, leaving you all alone and confused when you finished) or you had to insta-skip the cutscenes to stick with everyone (thus being unclear what the actual ending of A Realm Reborn was)... or you had people who saw you were a first-timer and kicked you so they wouldn't have to wait.

That roulette is there not for the benefit of endgame players; it's for the benefit of new players going through that instance, to ensure they can fill out a party. The rewards for the roulette are not for running the instance, they're for making yourself available to fill the instances where needed. As such, that's why cutscenes are no longer skippable.

And this is also why every time someone suggests "the cutscenes should be skippable if no one is a first-timer", I wince; if that were the case, I absolutely believe people would see a first-timer bonus at the beginning and either quit (so they could rejoin a new instance later where there'd be no newbie), or if there was an obvious sprout, just kick them to get a replacement so they could skip all the cutscenes.

My issue is we've tried Square's hamfisted attempts to keep this self-admitted mistake alive without them doing what they actually need to do: don't require 8 people to run this.

If the cutscenes can be skipped, then new people get left behind. If the cutscenes can't be skipped, then people dodge to wherever they get the most XP-- and leave new people behind.

We're in a situation now where no matter who you are, if you're in Castrum/prae you're skipping the fights-- they've been nerfed into oblivion. Just take it a step further and make it a cutscene gallery to end ARR with some solo fights and be done with MSQ roulette entirely. Don't make new players wait at all to get their clear.

[Ultimatecalibur]

they've been nerfed into oblivion.

Not nerfed; just completely overgeared because there is no ilevel sync like LotA, ST and Camp Westwind. I'm now actually wondering what the time requirements would be like for both Prae and Castrum if they had ilevel syncs of say i70.

[van_arn]

Not nerfed; just completely overgeared because there is no ilevel sync like LotA, ST and Camp Westwind. I'm now actually wondering what the time requirements would be like for both Prae and Castrum if they had ilevel syncs of say i70.

Outcome is the same. Nerfed.

Whether this nerf was a direct change or a result of the ilvl overgearing is immaterial; they are nerfed to the point of irrelevance by the sync settings. They are cutscene galleries now, not dungeons.

Cutscene galleries shouldn't need 8 people. Square can do better.

[Ultimatecalibur]

Outcome is the same. Nerfed.

Whether this nerf was a direct change or a result of the ilvl overgearing is immaterial; they are nerfed to the point of irrelevance by the sync settings. They are cutscene galleries now, not dungeons.

There is actually quite a bit of difference. The methods of fixing them are a significant factor. Castrum and Prae are pretty much the exact same as they were at release and just setting an effective ilevel sync would make Prae and Castrum more engaging and less face roll. True Nerfs would require those modifications to be reverted.

[Payadopa]

I never actually bailed even if I get Castrum.

I mean, it's kinda disrespectful to the people that come together with me. Yes, yes, I know they're complete strangers so many would be whatever but I would feel bad if I do it.

I see it the same way. If I queue I'll see it through or time out trying. It has nothing to do with strangers but decency.