Any advice?

[Reinha]

Is Praetorum as easy as the first, because that first raid has been the easiest dungeon I've gone through since starting FF14. I almost felt like a tank wasn't needed. Awesome there were no hiccups but kinda weird that one tank seemed like more than enough.

The second one is also easy. They are not really raids even though they require 8 people. More like story dungeons. Such a mode has not been repeated since because of the issue that newcomers are left behind to watch cutscenes while others clear. Here is a list of raids for both level 50 and 60 if you are interested. Raids are for 8 or 24 people. There is also a mode called trial (= one medium difficulty raid boss, no trash mobs) and they are for 8 people.

I recommend trying the Duty Finder again with the primary language for that data center selected. You could also try asking a few mentors (people with a crown next to their name) on your server to come with you. Most mentors, for what I've seen, take pride in being able to assist newcomers in any way.

[EveK]

Also know there is a duty finder option to allow you to enter with less than eight people. When using this "undersized party" option:

1. Level sync is not applied, so people above Level 50 can get the full benefit of their level and equipment, even if they're 60.
2. No XP is gained from monsters.

I'd recommend asking in the novice network etc. to see if you can get even just a couple more people to help you. They're definitely doable with just three people (I helped two friends around 50 do them like this when I was the only 60 in the party).

Also, these two duties have a lot of cutscenes within the duty. So I'd further recommend you get people that are happy with waiting for you to watch the cutscenes. Although you can replay some of the story from the book in the inn room, not experiencing it in context and sequence can be annoying.

Beyond all that, duty finder SHOULD work. There are a couple of different roulettes that incentivize people to repeat these two duties. I still recommend the personally-selected undersized party, though.

[Gemina]

I probably should warn you that after you clear Prae, you have about 100 MSQs to get to Ishgard. Ultima fight marks the end of 1.0 and 2.0 begins, and you will have to get through all the patches that came previous to HW's release. I also recommend that you don't burn yourself out trying to get though them all quickly. 2.x content is seriously really good, and you should try to pace it a little and enjoy it.

When you do eventually get inside Prae, you can either participate in the fighting, or watch the cut scenes. Synced players make short work of the related mobs and you'll find yourself left in the dust if you watch the cut scenes, so most choose to fight.

I don't know much about the Japanese servers, but I've queued up no less than 5 times for each of those raids and did not have to wait long. The longest I think was 20 minutes when I ran as SMN. This was less than a month ago, but as far as I know, these two instances still remain 20 minute rofl_stomps that bang out serious EXP.

[Waytoolate]

Again, everyone, thx for the help. It appears that there's a lot of options that I'm not taking advantage of to make the search easier. I tried to get a Prae group going last night without much luck. I really like the story, but out of respect for people helping in the previous 8 man I skipped every cutscene and just watched them at the inn later and will do the same with Prae. However I'm looking forward to all the story stuff afterward I can do at my own pace. I wish I had all you awesome helpful people on my server...lol. Thanks again.

[Estellios]

Look for the undersized party option EveK suggested. You can easily clear it with 4 people or less, if you have a level 60 or two you likely won't even need a healer