How to fix Castrum and Praetorium

[Elim]

Tonight, just like each and every one of you, my enjoyment of the last two dungeons was ruined by impatient players that wanted everyone to bully first timers and rush through everything for their tomes.

Mine weren't because I did them with friends.

[Seif]

Given how much there is effort in the story and the boss designs of those last 2 dungeons I have to say as an ending to the storyline the execution completely tarnished my experience to the ground. I literally couldn't even watch the last cutscenes because the raid was done and I was put on a timer. Never mind that I was completely useless THE ENTIRE TIME. I mean when I exited a cutscene the next bos was already killed and I didn't get to see ANY of it.

Even as a TANK I was completely not needed at all. The party cleared the entire Ultima fight locking me outside because I didn't make it into the area in time.

To call the ending cutscene that followed the culmination of ludo-narrative-dissonance is the understatement of the year.
The NPCs shower you with praise for your deeds and all I was thinking is that I LITERALLY DIDN'T do anything.


Also good luck getting a PF group for that purpose. It won't happen for you without a FC.

[blowfin]

100 tomes in 20 Minutes, but only as speedrunner...

20-25 minutes is quite normal in a high level group without people stopping to watch cutscenes. I'd hardly call it "speed running" when it's the case in nearly every PF group, it's just the natural pace at which people do the content. "Speed running" by abusing mechanics and mob layout was ended in CM quite some time ago, and it's never been possible in Prae. That doesn't mean that you can't attack the content as hard as possible in an attempt to make the clear faster.

[Nicobo]

I do find it funny that people suggest newbies use the PF to get parties for story content when the game itself tells them to use DF.
Hell, I didn't know about the PF until long after I'd finished the story quests >>


I don't think there really is a fix for this problem - you can't fix people, and people are the root cause of this issue.

As you said you didn't know about PF, that's why people suggest PF for those who concern about CS.
I think it would be helpful to ensure the first time will not be ruined, also prevent to feel sorry that letting others to wait,
and no need to asking for something that you deserved to have.

I think the game tells you use DF still valid in this way, as a PF group eventually will enter the content thru DF as a premade group. ^^;

If a new player don't want to wait, then he can bet his first time on DF, but he may group with some players don't want to wait as well.

[Gardes]

Turn both into solo dungeons (maybe provide random npc partners for boss battles).
Remove the myth rewards from the above dungeons and remove them from roulette.
Never add 8 man dungeons for main story line ever again (8 man fights like levi hm allowed).

Optional: In the place of the 'scenario' roulette, add a handful 8 man dungeons (not fights) to keep the extra way of gaining tomes.

[lackofwords]

Even with a light party, composed of 6 players, it doesn't change much. You're still at the mercy of whoever you're stuck with.

It may sound like a broken record, but it rings true;
The best hope for people who are looking for a fresh experience is to stick to the old ways; ask for help, shout for a party, or create one with Party Finder.
This way you can curate your party members, fully knowing they are here to assist you.
Rather than leaving your fate a fray of strangers in Duty Finder and hoping that they play on your terms.

When they've incorporation Castrum Meridianum and Praetorium with the Duty Finder Roulette, it increased the number of people participating in the duty.
The problem with this though, is majority of the people playing DF aren't playing to help carry new players along. They are just in it for the bonus reward.
Reason being, unlike the other duties, main scenario duties completions are required before moving onto other parts of the game. Thus, everyone has to have completed CM and Prae unless if it's their first time.

Also, as a side note, DF Roulette is part of DF. Only difference is that it applies a bonus reward upon completion. For people to have a better chance of joining the an existing DF you were roulette'd in they would have to pick your specific DF from the full DF listing.

Before there was DF Roulette, it was just simply DF. The incentive to repeat CM and Prae was for the philosophy tomestones. This was the stepping stone to obtain the ilvl70 Darklight gear.
Over time players dwindled out to seek higher ilvl gear.
Then, phil. tomes rewards were removed, and replaced mythology tomestones reward. With that, around the same time, there was the additional incentive of DF Roulette gil and bonus mythology tomestones.

As of now, the current structure of DF helps players jump into action quickly. It does not assist in anyway who you get in the DF.
Perhaps if you just want to play with players that never completed the duty, then maybe they could add such an option. However, it'll take ages to find players and fill the party.

[DoubleT]

if SE hasnt done anything about it in 7 months, I dont think they're gonna do anything about it now. An btw, Ultima was weaksauce in VII too, Emerald & Ruby were the hardest bosses in the game. If you really want that "perfect" experience with all the cs's, use the pf an form your own group. Now when you have done them both a 1000 times in the roullette, come back an tell us all how much you love to not skip the cs's/mobs. what SE really needs to do is put a warning label on the duty finder that says something like:

Warning! You are about to play with 3-7 strangers, things may not go the way you want them to.

Oh, an btw, if all of us high ilv people didnt run the story mode roullettes an help yall new people with it, you all would be sitting in multi-hour long queues waiting to finish your missions. And how is it bullying to just leave slow-pokes behind lol. I do MS roullette every single day for tomes, an I have yet to see anyone get yelled at for cs's or whatever. We always just go, an if slow pokes got to catch up then they gotta catch up. It's not our job to hold your hands through the 2 easiest dungeons in the game.

[Kyoraki]

An btw, Ultima was weaksauce in VII too, Emerald & Ruby were the hardest bosses in the game.

My mistake, I haven't played the game since I was around 14, around a decade ago. I should probably change that. Still, an Ultimate Weapon that drops jewellery instead of giant swords is still a disappointment imo.

And regarding the rest of the post, the point of the roulette is for you to help new players through the dungeon with the tomes as an incentive, not for you to farm tomes. If you're clearing content while the new folk are still in cutscenes, or worse bullying them into skipping them so you can shave a few minutes off your amateur speedrun, you're only being a toxic element in the community.

It's not our job to hold your hands through the 2 easiest dungeons in the game.

But is is. As I explained above, the tomes are an incentive to help first timers through the dungeon. Yoshi P has said as much. They're not there for you to speedrun it and play through the content without them. Your mild inconvenience completely ruins any sort of excitement or payoff that the finale has, and scares away folk from the endgame. Hell, even I'm not sure I want to join in knowing that it'll likely be full of selfish elitists that don't care about anyone except themselves.

[Kyoraki]

Mine weren't because I did them with friends.

Tried that. Even with two DPS's, a Healer, and myself as a Paladin, it was impossible to stop the other four players from Leeroying into the boss fights, and clearing them with their overpowered gear. We couldn't even do the hallways, since the other tank in i90 gear just pulled right past them and into the boss arena. It was an utter mess.

[necrosis]

Or just have a lockout on bosses until everyone finishes their cutscene, the same as when zoning into a dungeon. Fixes everything

People would just stop doing the zone. I would if I was forced to sit through them all. The bonus 80 tomes isnt worth it when I can do 3-4 runs of Longstop (Hard) in the same time.

In fact the solution has been implemented, SE has added "no skip CS" option to PF.
That's why some players suggested new players use PF for story quests without any skipping. ^^;

The reason people do it in DF is for the roulette bonus. People are not doing CM/Pre out of the kindness of their heart. So doing it in PF is pointless because there are faster ways to get tomes.