Terrible experience.

[Ferth]

They won't do it, but really they need to remove the story roulette and re-balance these instances so they can be done solo and maybe add cape westwind to leveling roulette or trial roulette.

Or they could balance them to be 4 man and add them to the 50-60 roulette, though that might still have the speed running problem.

[Tabmow]

This is what worries me about coming back.I started a Sam but need 10 levels to set to the stormwind content. i used to play,from the closed beta of the original FFXIV and from there through the first exp pack but i've been gone a year and it looks like no one at all is in the lower areas,forcing me to redo the toxic dungeons. any other ways to quickly go 10 levels?

[Ferth]

This is what worries me about coming back.I started a Sam but need 10 levels to set to the stormwind content. i used to play,from the closed beta of the original FFXIV and from there through the first exp pack but i've been gone a year and it looks like no one at all is in the lower areas,forcing me to redo the toxic dungeons. any other ways to quickly go 10 levels?

50 to 60 can be done relatively quickly in Palace of the Dead, but PoTD has it's own sort of run etiquette. Daily Clan Marks and Beastman dailies can give you about a third of a level a day, though. Paired with 50-60/leveling/trials roulettes you could probably get a level a day doing just those things. I guess it depends on how big of a hurry you are in to hit 60.

[Astrus]

[..] and maybe add cape westwind to leveling roulette or trial roulette.[...]

Cape Westwind is already in the trials roulette and comes with its own issue of completing in 10 seconds flat but at least people can watch the cutscenes there in peace.

The issue can really be isolated to Story Roulette and short of reworking the dungeons or changing the pop up you get the first time you unlock them to include instructions how to set up a cinematic PF run I see no feasible way to fix it. Both of those are unlikely to happen, the former would take resources they don't really have available to rework dungeons most people do exactly once outside of DF speedruns and the latter would be admitting that there is a design issue with the dungeons.

The ideal solution, if they were willing to commit the time and resources to it, would probably be to adopt the squad system for Praetorium/CM. Let people do them solo with the help of NPC allies the game provides. Just don't make it the actual squad, leveling those guys already takes long enough as it is without locking MSQ progression behind them.

[Frizze]

This is what worries me about coming back.I started a Sam but need 10 levels to set to the stormwind content. i used to play,from the closed beta of the original FFXIV and from there through the first exp pack but i've been gone a year and it looks like no one at all is in the lower areas,forcing me to redo the toxic dungeons. any other ways to quickly go 10 levels?

Leveling roulette is worth roughly a level a day, and with trials, hest, msq, alliance, 50-60 and frontline i wouldnt be surprised if that got close to a second level. You dont sound like you want to do that many dungeons though, so this may not be the path for you(though keep in mind, you can que for most roulettes with a party of friends to eliminate some of the "toxicity" you want to avoid). Ferth mentioned Palace of the Dead which is likely the fastest way for a DPS to cover those levels, though again in a "dungeon setting". If we need a no-instance solution, then my advice is the multi-pronged approach. Run any near-level side quests you have available, grab as many beast tribe dailies as you can stand(all 12 of your allotment if you can), grab the daily clan hunts whenever you can, and check if there are any fate parties in the higher level zones. Fate parties are less common then they used to be, but some people still prefer to do some of their leveling in the overworld(not to mention you still see people grinding some for relic/anima weapons). A healing-trained chocobo is your friend as a potentially fate-soloing DPS, but most(if not all) non-boss fates can be safely handled alone - as can some bosses(this has been my experience as a BLM anyway). And finally whatever approach youre going for, take advantage of all the bonus exp you can. Are you rested(log out in sanctuary areas like town)? Does your FC activate the exp buff? Are you eating food(any consumed meal regardless of stats or quality gives 3% bonus)? Do you have any other exp buffs you can use(like item bonuses and squadron manuals)? Add it all up, and those levels should go by pretty fast.

Though i will say, my personal experience is that the "toxic" experiences are fairly limited. The boards tend to exaggerate any problems that exist. That isnt to say that CM/Prae arent an issue, but its one thats been well covered and only happens in these specific dungeons. Plus with patch 4.2 on the horizon, a lot of players should be coming back soon which could alleviate any number of problems(both within the community, and with parts of the world feeling more empty then usual). Either way, good luck and welcome back!

[Fedelmid]

That happened to me too, I ended up dying because I was separated from the group and ended using the shortcut. AND then not having the slightest idea what the heck was going on with Ultima came up. ( I guess I was lucky not to be kicked...?)
Luckily, I haven't ended up doing that dungeon again on the roulette...and I hope it stays that way.

[Vineas]

I feel sorry to hear that you were kicked out. It's totally not fair for newbs, but here are few points that you have learnt:

1. Never expect old players to wait for you.
2. You can re watch cut scenes from the journal in the inn.
3. This is old content that old player run as part of daily roulette (good exp, peotics, and gils).
4. Dungeon does not stop even if you left behind <== hence it's not fair that you got kicked out, unless there were other reasons like bad behaviours.
5. Don't worry if you left behind, the group will clear the run anyway. If you want to learn how it goes, just play from the roulette (but skip the cut scenes this time) the next day.

[RokkuEkkusu]

They won't do it, but really they need to remove the story roulette and re-balance these instances so they can be done solo and maybe add cape westwind to leveling roulette or trial roulette.

What is funny about this quote is that Cape Westwind USED to be in Leveling Roulette, but the instance never popped 99% because other 4-man dungeons and trials ended up getting filled and getting prioritized faster. They eventually moved to Cape Westwind to Trails Roulette in a later patch.

Oh, here is the link showing Cape Westwind specifically under Low-Level roulette (Hint: Use Ctrl + F, then type in roulette): https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...7af43f3c43828a


Back on topic, sorry it happened to you Topic Creator. I hope you cleared your 8-man dungeons and progressed on with the game.

[MistakeNot]

That happened to me too, I ended up dying because I was separated from the group and ended using the shortcut. AND then not having the slightest idea what the heck was going on with Ultima came up. ( I guess I was lucky not to be kicked...?)
Luckily, I haven't ended up doing that dungeon again on the roulette...and I hope it stays that way.

Not lucky really. People actually getting kicked from CM/Prae is quite rare.
Usually people just ignore any hapless newbies and run ahead to finish the dungeon without them.

Castrum Meridanium/Praetorium are on their own roulette (Main Story Roulette) which only includes those two dungeons. You will never get them unless you do that roulette - or queue manually for one or the other of them.

Later on (when you are part of the rushing, speed-running crowd) that roulette is actually quite nice for some decent Exp and Poetics.

It is only the first run which is awful for most people, when it ought to be awesome.

[NosamKin]

Sorry that happened to you - It happened to me too (Actually should say happens - some people are in such a hurry - sprinted through Alexander yesterday and still could barely keep up.).

Form a party in duty finder - make it clear you are watching cut scenes. Do it unsynced and someone might help you and wait. I've gone back and soloed this one just to watch the cut scenes.

Yes you can watch them later at an Inn - but the Inn doesn't always have *all* the cut scenes.