Does anyone enjoy duties where ...

[Arkdra]

Ah yes, the "actual gameplay" where the outcome is usually scripted anyway.

People fail them all the time soooooo...

[PercibelTheren]

only solo duty I enjoyed was in from the cold.
the actual combat ones are awful

I hated that one. And no, it wasn't because it's difficult. It's not difficult. It's tedious and annoying. Invisible walls, inconsistent enemy aggro range. I could walk right in front of some enemies and they didn't care, others tagged me from half the map away. If I wanted to play a stealth game, I'd be playing Dishonored and not FFXIV, whose engine is NOT suited for this type of content.

[Carin-Eri]

Actually wonder how many people dropped dancer immediately because the first job quest is so poorly explained.

Good point, actually!

I almost did so but persisted, and Dancer became my Main job in due course, such was/is my enjoyment of it.

[Vrahjin]

using whatever awful pet bar keybinds (which are awful because they are out of the way in order not to interfer with your normal keybinds)

I always get the NPC Roleplay bar as my first Hotbar, due to some setting somewhere, so while I still can't use the keybinds I want, at least they're set to whatever I'm using for the first 1-4/5 slots of my Hotbar #1.
Might make the RP parts somewhat more bearable if you find that setting.

As for the topic, don't mind the fights that much. Then again, I'm always running through the MSQ on WHM so, you know. Kind of used to the simplicity.

You can!

Oh, even better, I'd completely missed that

[Merrigan]

I like them.

So of course, there are things that could be improved: as others have said, some enemies have "surprising" number of HP. But it's a nice change from the usual quest. It adds a different perspective, and above all reinforces the impression that we're not alone in our ability to do things. A nice change from ARR, where you often had that feeling of being surrounded by a bunch of kids you had to babysit.

As a general rule, I can't help but appreciate elements that show a willingness to make a change. Badly done, well done, in the end it doesn't really matter to me: the effort is still a commendable thing. For example, many have disparaged quests where npcs follow you, or tailing quests; and even if, indeed, it can become redundant (even frustrating, for tailing quests), it shows a willingness to flesh out the narrative means.

On the contrary, I hope they'll multiply efforts of this kind.

[vetch]

I like them overall. Even the worst one is markedly better than the worst of the in-character solo fights. Like the one against Venat. Or dealing with new Lahabrea's hard disengage spam as a monk.

As a general rule, I can't help but appreciate elements that show a willingness to make a change. Badly done, well done, in the end it doesn't really matter to me: the effort is still a commendable thing. For example, many have disparaged quests where npcs follow you, or tailing quests; and even if, indeed, it can become redundant (even frustrating, for tailing quests), it shows a willingness to flesh out the narrative means.

That too.