The Praetorium: The Anti-Climactic Climax

[Aidalyn]

All of Eorzea thinks me a hero. But they don't know it's a lie.

While it's true I joined the group of adventurers that stormed the Praetorium, I wasn't able to lift a finger to help them. While I stopped for a few moments to engage in dialogue with the Empire's villains, the rest of the team pushed ahead without their second tank. By the time I finished exchanging words with each villain, he would already be laying dead at my feet. Apparently, a Monk even tanked Ultima Weapon just for fun.

I'm not upset at other players who have reasonable wishes to skip past cutscenes they've already experienced. But for me, this was an extremely depressing way to experience the final battles of my character's main storyline. I think the frequency of cutscenes in this dungeon, combined with the lack of gear cap (as present in low level dungeons), make this a compromise where nobody wins.

Please forgive me, Eorzea. I'm not the adventurer you're looking for.

[Kabooa]

Don't worry. You can always try again.

[IndigoHawk]

Sorry that happened to you. That happens a lot. :/

[tOnni3]

May be you can leave instance once you were left behind, and form a your own party.

[ClaireAbigail]

Don't worry. You're still the scion's delivery boy/girl after the story.
It's not like they will treat you any different

[Aidalyn]

I'm hoping to one day return and beat it as a proper participant. In the meantime, I'm leveling some lower-level classes to shrug off the shame.

[RuruKun]

Praetorium is coming up for me soon too and you're more than welcome to join me if you like ^_^. Msg me in game and let me know when you're ready.

And don't worry, I'm going to be watching the cutscenes myself most likely. I'll arrange for a party that could tolerate that as well.

[kit07]

I understand the frustration.
But I also understand that your party has probably gone through the dungeon dozens, if not hundreds of times.
SE needs to address this somehow, but I'm not sure how.

[Aidalyn]

Praetorium is coming up for me soon too and you're more than welcome to join me if you like ^_^. Msg me in game and let me know when you're ready.

And don't worry, I'm going to be watching the cutscenes myself most likely. I'll arrange for a party that could tolerate that as well.

Awesome! I'll be sure to look you up.

[Aidalyn]

SE needs to address this somehow, but I'm not sure how.

My experience in lower level dungeons is that most players will be willing to wait a couple minutes without complaint. The problem with Castrum Meridianum and especially the Praetorium is the number of cutscenes far breaches that threshold of tolerance. But I believe this could be mitigated through a combination of options:

1. Convert non-essential cut-scenes to audible, in-action dialogue.
2. Judiciously omit some non-essential cut-scenes entirely (there are several that add little value to the game).
3. Separate some of the dungeon crawl objectives into a solo-player quest instance (like Castrum Centri), then leave the final boss encounter unlockable for the Duty Finder (like Cape Westwind).
4. Gear-cap these main story instances similarly to lower level dungeons, so people in i90 gear aren't enticed to smash ahead through content with only half their team.