Please Reconsider MSQ Changes

[Vstarstruck]

Flagged up for MSQ with my husband today. We were both DPS. We flagged for duty at 3:02pm EST and entered about 20 min later. Got Prae. Exited at 4:11pm EST. So, from flag to finish it took about an hour and ten minutes for 1.4 mil exp as a 58 SAM.

Here was the kicker for me: We had 3 new people. Two of them were complaining more than us vets about the cutescenes. All of us agreed the roulette wasn't worth it and won't be flagging again.

like i been trying to tell the 1 or 2? people white knighting this change, there are new people that DO NOT WANT to watch the CS as well. SE needs to learn that those few threads made by quitting or almost quitting players are very few. why inconvenience a thousand people for saving 1? People can PF it anyway that really care. it is not the playerbase fault that SE is not very clear in teaching new players how to use PF, or advice new players if they care about the story that much, they might want to do it with a friend or 2 and take their time.

[Reynhart]

SE keeps catering to a small minority of ppl, some of which don't either like the long cutscenes and or hate the much longer wait to get into those dungeons.

You, like many people, keep thinking your sample is the majority, and you use that to counter SE's decision, when they are the one who have the most statistics to judge which adjustment they should make.

why inconvenience a thousand people for saving 1?

Another bland estimation trying to pass as an actual sample...that's the third time, good job !

it is not the playerbase fault that SE is not very clear in teaching new players how to use PF, or advice new players if they care about the story that much, they might want to do it with a friend or 2 and take their time.

Same old debate, if you expect more than the base flow of the dungeon, you are the one to make a premade, not those who don't want to be rushed.

[Cavistus]

went into the new patch without reading any of the notes. queued up for MSQ roulette as i usually do, only to be greeted with this. did the first two bosses but left because i realized the 30 minute penalty is far shorter than how long it would have taken to complete the dungeon.

not entirely sure what i'm going to do for poetics now, but then again i didn't really use them for much. oh well.

[DracotheDragon]

so just did one myself and now i remember why i skipped the cutscenes in the first place, its constant 'swooshing' and flowing movements can be a bit motion sickening, and the cutscenes every 5 paces kills the momentum in the dungeon, while it was fun to see the cutscenes again it just reminded me as to why i skipped them when i first played, they were long and the constant swooshing of the camera wasn't very nice to watch.

the dungeon took 48 mins to complete but i aint in a rush, wouldn't mind if it gave some end game tome-stones then poetics.

[Skivvy]

If SE is going to keep things this way, perhaps they could implement the following to make it more alluring again:

1) Add all required MSQ dungeons, trials to the roulette. So this would add in Cape Westwind, all the primals, etc. People may be willing to take the gamble if several super-fast trials are possibilities.

2) If there are no sprouts, for the love of all that is holy, let people skip CSs

3) If there are sprouts, and you have to watch the CSs, I'd say bump up the exp some more. Make it comparable to running some dungeons instead.

4) Switch it to end-game tomes. Most people don't need Poetics.

[Usho]

went into the new patch without reading any of the notes. queued up for MSQ roulette as i usually do, only to be greeted with this. did the first two bosses but left because i realized the 30 minute penalty is far shorter than how long it would have taken to complete the dungeon.

not entirely sure what i'm going to do for poetics now, but then again i didn't really use them for much. oh well.

You can farm them easily by spamming Aetherochemical Research Facility (the lvl 60 HW dungeon). It gives you 150 poetics per trip and still best source for poetic farming. Also, I think 50/60 roulette still gives poetics as a reward as well. So you'll still be getting a lot of poetics each day without having to step foot in that bs msq roulette again.

/2 cents

[Jijifli]

You, like many people, keep thinking your sample is the majority, and you use that to counter SE's decision, when they are the one who have the most statistics to judge which adjustment they should make.

How did Square get the statistics on how many wanted to be forced into the cutscenes? I thought the reason they stopped making dungeons like Castrum and Prae was BECAUSE people didn't like that.

So I guess going right back, how do YOU know the sample of people wanting to view 30+ minutes of cutscenes is the majority? It ain't about the majority. If it was, there'd be plenty of other changes that wouldn't exist, like Feast chat being very limited.

[Skivvy]

How did Square get the statistics on how many wanted to be forced into the cutscenes? I thought the reason they stopped making dungeons like Castrum and Prae was BECAUSE people didn't like that.

So I guess going right back, how do YOU know the sample of people wanting to view 30+ minutes of cutscenes is the majority? It ain't about the majority. If it was, there'd be plenty of other changes that wouldn't exist, like Feast chat being very limited.

Neither side can prove anything. Can we stop with this stupid argument?

[Vstarstruck]

You, like many people, keep thinking your sample is the majority, and you use that to counter SE's decision, when they are the one who have the most statistics to judge which adjustment they should make.

Another bland estimation trying to pass as an actual sample...that's the third time, good job !

Same old debate, if you expect more than the base flow of the dungeon, you are the one to make a premade, not those who don't want to be rushed.

Do you even READ?!?!?!?! you CAN'T EVEN DO PREMADES anymore, they make you watch them doing unsync. Can for once you stop throwing out stawmans? Your response does not reply to my points at all.

Sorry when you are solo queuing, you talk to the group and work something out, not have the development team force something on everyone, you need to grow up, along with the select few that complained about quitting because of speed runners (outright harassment is different and up to people to kick them, not stand and watch)

You do not even read my posts, you pick something very tiny and minor and only comment on that, all you are doing is trolling this thread with red herrings and stawmans, stop it.

Neither side can prove anything. Can we stop with this stupid argument?

Yes we want to but Reynhart keeps bringing it up to troll the thread. I advice people to report that particular poster if they had enough with the trolling and derailing.

Here are the facts, every once in a while someone makes a thread here complaining about MSQ speed running. No one comments on how many actually prefer speed running and how many new people skip them no questions asked.

All we see is a blind sudden change without discussion, and you (as in general sense) are shocked about people questioning how many people want unskipable CS in the MSQ roulette? SE overreacts, obviously (lolfeastchat), and they have yet to comment on this issue.

From all my personal contacts, NN, this thread, these boards, people complaining about not being able to watch the CS is RARRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEE, it is more common to see people kicked that are harassing the new players, or new players (or the friend with the new player) being toxic and trying to hold the group hostage. It is more common for the group trying to make the new comer feel better but the MAIN ISSUE IN ALL OF THIS, is there is likely a group of people that don't say a word and complain later, that is completely their fault for not communicating.

[Iscah]

[...] But I do believe that a part of the playerbase is not playing this game for the story (which is honestly fine for an MMO but nothing that great for a game story imo) [...]

In the end I am just curious how long those that are fine with that will run the dungeons. How long it will take them to get bored and annoyed of it too.

I forgot to respond to this earlier.

I agree that the story quality is.... variable, but when it gets good it gets really good. The late part of ARR starting from when Lahabrea is unmasked. The ending of the "hundred quests" where all the pieces set up beforehand fall into place one after the other. The aftermath of the Vault.

Heavensward's ending feels like a bit of a blur at the moment, having just done it, but from a perfect storytelling experience I just don't feel like the fragmented "we learned from ARR's issues and made a dungeon with no cutscenes" approach has the same impact, and I can't re-experience it in quite the same way that the Praetorium let me dive back in and see all of those scenes in sequence and in context again.

I'm also curious whether I'll get bored of it, to be honest. I've only gotten Castrum since the cutscene change was brought in.

Exactly. If even the newbies are complaining about the cutscenes that should give white knights who defend se's bad decisions a somewhat clear vision as to why not everyone likes these changes... Even Newbies.

It tells us that there are "more than zero" first-time players that dislike watching cutscenes. We don't have the statistics because we heard one group of people complain.

I've been on a run where the first-time player has come out of every cutscene gushing about how awesome this is.

I had a conversation with another player last night that went along the lines of:
"Wait, why won't it let me skip the cutscene?"
"They changed it so newbies won't get left behind or pressured to skip them."
"Makes sense."

Anecdotes are not data.

How did Square get the statistics on how many wanted to be forced into the cutscenes? I thought the reason they stopped making dungeons like Castrum and Prae was BECAUSE people didn't like that.

Or it may be because they realised that people were getting rushed along and missing out on the grand experience they intended it to be when they crafted it?
That's certainly going to be the theme of the complaints they've received so far - because when the dungeon can be rushed, the complaints are going to come from the people who wanted to take it at story-pace. Now that it's been slowed to that pace, the complaints will come from people who wanted to rush it.