Please Reconsider MSQ Changes

[Iscah]

An easy fix for the cutscene exploit would be to make it so whenever you start a cutscene in those dungeons, you get a debuff that immobilizes you, locks down all your attacks and abilities, and makes you invincible and invisible. This debuff would last for the full duration of the cutscene, so if watch the full cutscene, the debuff will expire at about the same time the cutscene ends. If you exploit to skip it, congratulations, you get to stare at a debuff for 5 minutes or however long the cutscene is.

Effectively - when people don't break things in ways beyond the programmers' control - the "viewing cutscene" state is that debuff. I assume they can't actually lock characters in place like that, which is why the unskippable cutscenes (code already in the game for some other instances like the treasure map dungeons) were implemented instead.

[Paladinleeds]

Effectively - when people don't break things in ways beyond the programmers' control - the "viewing cutscene" state is that debuff. I assume they can't actually lock characters in place like that, which is why the unskippable cutscenes (code already in the game for some other instances like the treasure map dungeons) were implemented instead.

However, they've added that cutscene debuff in solo duties already. Perhaps it could be easily expanded to all party members, until ALL members have finished the cutscene (so it lasts the longest of all languages per cutscene, maybe with an extra 30 seconds to account for loading times?)

[MonteCristo]

Signing this...will NOT be doing msq roulette til further notice....just lost an hour of time

[Kurando]

Signing this...will NOT be doing msq roulette til further notice....just lost an hour of time

An hour that you offered to volunteer by signing up to the Roulette to begin with? :thinking:.

[Shougun]

Replied a long time ago but just wanted to state that my feelings haven't changed. I think the concept of letting new players watch and experience the dungeon closer to as intended is best, and at the point that SE can provide trust/AI to run the dungeon instead then the reward will be lowered and it wont be worth most people's time. The reward is substantial (although one of the dungeons offers a lot more than the other, would be nice if they were closer lol).

That's not to say I can't see how it can be frustrating for others, an hour with most of it cutscenes can be a bit draining but it's not a mandatory content piece at least and I still think it's the best solution for the circumstance (that it's not ran by AI for example). New player's experience priority, and as a reward old players get huge and easy exp / tome rewards.

[KokonoeAiyoko]

They should just redesign the questline similar to how 5.0 does it. Dungeon with boss and finale into instance with next boss.

A lot of those fights aren't even needed, they can just rework them into small cutscenes showing your character and Cid or whomever is assisting taking them out real quick.

What I stated previously is the best way.

Now there's the lazy way and that would be adding trusts to these content as a bandaid fix. Either way, 2.0 is showing clear signs of aging every passing expansion and I'd prefer the former than the latter.

[Beskar]

It's already probably been mentioned but I've seen people leave group if they don't get Praetorium now for the bigger EXP boost at the end. Thankfully people come back in quick and with Castrum being the quickest of the two, I can handle the 30 mins it takes to run it.

[DonovanLifeweaver]

my pov on msq cutscene festival.

let the cutscene flow for those who see it for the first time.
allow us to skip the cutscene BUT YES BUT!!!! let the other players skip it BUT to stay in the purple rings that way we dont have to hear cid talking for hours and we can let others enjoy the view without us going nuts

[Sei_Konsetsu]

Long story short. If you are able to skip the cutscenes, then the over inflated exp would be dropped. You wouldnt get it, and thats what the most of you want, the over inflated exp but dont want to spend the time that the exp was compensating for.

You aren't required to do it, and if your argument is that the exp is so good you would be stupid to ignore it, remember that you are being compensated for that time spent with said exp.

Another thing to note, since people have brought up old content no one plays in WoW, the reason the roulette is even in place is so people who havent done said content has a chance to do them and you are being compensated in exp and tomes and what.

[ColdestHeaven]

Removing cutscene skipping allowed new players interested in it to enjoy that portion of the story without having to do it on their own unsynched. Aside from Gaius' voiceover, I really can't say that's a wrong thing. And queueing in these two specific dungeons is a choice you make - nobody is forcing anything to people doing the roulette. Allowing people to skip cutscenes would revert it back to the start, where people were basically cut out of the fights (something I personally loathe, I'm here to kill stuff gods darn it!) and left behind probably fending on their own because they have no clue where to go next. As a story-heavy dungeon, this would make it horrible.

...except it still is, due to loading times difference and everyone knowing where to go except for new ones who have to sprint between cutscenes to keep up with the rest. Which brings me to my stance on this: delete Praetorium and Castrum Meridianum. Now - this might sound like a radical approach, and it is, but it's because this dungeon just can't work the way it is. There's a lot of Nero/Cid story in it, not to mention Gaius, and they still are relevant in later expansions! But at the same time it's long, extremely long and the cutscenes all over make it horrible. I really, really hope that this is in the list of the MSQ rework. Castrum could be turned in a duty call with less walking forward and back and fighting reused garlean magitek bosses and more meaningful action packed in it. Turn Ultima into a last quest Trial (similarly to Thordan, Shinryu and Hades) and Praetorium...well I was going to suggest turning that into a duty too, but then we'd miss the last level dungeon leading into the trial so - I guess it would be a dungeon with a true bossfight with Gaius at the end. With a better voice acting, please, listening back to those cutscenes I wanted to bite my own ears off.