The preatorium, streamlined

[Assirra]

Those 8 player story duties are like that because new players complained about having the duty cleared by the other players before they finished watching the cutscenes. TBH I kind of liked it better that way back then. Even for the new players the cutscenes weren't forced so they could have skipped them and watched them later if they'd wanted to. You could even argue that the new players don't contribute much to the boss fights unless both tanks or healers are new simply because the people running these on roulette are severely overtuned gearwise even after sync compared to the item level expected at the time the quests were added. I think Darklight or base relic was endgame back then... it was a really long time ago lol.

And you really think that was a good experience for a new player? These duties are story first and fights second. The idea of "watching the cutscenes later" is so absurd when the cutscenes are the whole point of the place, even more so now that the bosses fall over. Seriously, Ultima weapon getting killed before the song even kicks in is so silly. Might as well tell them to youtube it while you are at it.

As someone that came back recently i for one was happily surprised they changed it (maybe they should somehow block the rushing to the teleporters as well) since people can actually see the story without the need to feeling having to skip for others cause you want your mad rush rush xp.