Praetorium - Worst Experience Ever

[LumiBlue]

I joined Praetorium via Duty Finder to continue the MSQ. All of the other players kept rushing through the instance, skipping mobs and interacting with objectives without me knowing what to do. The FIRST thing I said in Party chat was that I was new. When I told them I didn't know where to go, or what to do, they said "That's Praetorium". I tried to abandon the duty but their rushing got me stuck in combat and I could not. So instead I left the game. I waited over 20 minutes hoping it would time me out of the instance. It did not. Now I am seeing the ending of the MSQ with NO idea what happened.

This is ridiculous. Why are MSQ dungeons able to be run like this? Why are MSQ chapters played in public dungeons at ALL? Why are there not separate versions of the instance for story/experienced player purposes?

I've missed out on some prior iconic fights due to this behavior. And it was very upsetting. But this instance is by far the worst. And it's the climax of a major story thread.

I will not play the game like this. I will not log into my character to immediately see a spoiled ending. I asked support if they can roll back my progress, or at least teleport me out of the dungeon so I don't see the cutscene. But if they are like support in most other games, the answer will probably be no.

If you are one of the people who blitz through content when new players are in the party, without a care for their experience, you are ruining that experience. And if support cannot help roll me back, I will not be continuing my sub.

It's a shame. Outside of dungeons, the community seems very fun and friendly. I love the PvE content in this game. I love crafting and gathering. But progressing in those things requires progressing the MSQ. And that requires dungeons. And people who run dungeons just do not care about other people. Especially new players.

[Gothicshark]

Run it again, stay with the group. You won't miss a fight, you won't miss a cut scene, and frankly, since it's the best XP for time, you will be running that hundred of times a month. No exaggeration either. I use it to level my healer jobs. Also use chat during the movies, to talk to people. Its default bind is "enter↵". Let them know you are new, but seriously run with the group, also when people get chatting during the movies makes it some of the most fun you can have.

[Rae88]

I think Square learned from this because the Prae and the previous dungeon are as bad as it gets and it's not even close. I honestly don't know what they can do now to fix it either

Hope you choose to continue, pretty much everything gets better once you hit Heavensward but it's very understandable if you don't

[TyrTry]

That's Praetorium.

Simple as that. Use to be worse. At least as a new player you get to see cutscenes. I didn't get that. Watched them in the inn. Even got kicked once because I wanted to watch cutscenes during the dungeon.

It's a shame you want to quit before you get to experience the story more and miss out of some cool experiences.

I recommend you find an FC; an active one that run that will run dungeons with you if you dont want to hanlde the community.

Don't let bad experiences ruin your gameplay. We ALL had them and in some cases still do. The trick is not let them get to you.

There are plenty of good players out there, mostly silent players, but still good players.

[Naria]

Prae and Castrum Meridianum have been a problem since 2.0's launch. They've actually put in measures to slow down the runs as people used to be able to skip CSes so that they would play back to back for new people. At least SE learned their lesson as these are the only two group instances that have have a large amount of cses in them in the game. Short of adding them to the trust system or redesigning both dungeons it is not going to change any more. That might happen eventually, SE has been going back and improving ARR recently and there has been some vague talk of adding the trust system into earlier expansions, but it is understandably not a very high priority for them vs new content.

[Gothicshark]

what to do:

1st: movie: say hi, tell people your new, dance until the circle goes away.
2nd: run to the elevator control panel, click it.
3rd: Kill everything room, get the key, open door.
4th: Run to the outside, go around the building, down the fallen floor, to the platform teleport.
4th: Run to the next room, ignore big door, Run to door kill everything at the door, get key, open door.
5th: Go in-room use the control panel get attuned with a mecha, run to the elevator.
6th: up elevator, click mech... Movie
7th: use mech follow group outside kill mobs you skipped running outside last time, enter the building, kill door you passed before. Go in and teleport to the next part.
8th, use mech to kill everything, avoid the arms, and kill them. Kill big door. Movie.
9th face Nero and his movie.
10: Nero fight, go to next room and movie, Gaius Talks too much.
11: Fight Gaius let him walk away movie...
12: Move to the next fight Ultima Weapon.
13: Next movie...boom.
14: quick hard fight
15: Lahabrea talks too much.
16: fast fight against Lahabrea... the end.

[Vyrerus]

Yeah, so, not to sound insensitive, but the cutscenes are forced for everyone to watch, which likely means you didn't stick with your group as they progressed. While it was probably a bit confusing, just do your best to keep up, you will make it into all of the fights.

As others have said, back in the day, cutscenes weren't mandatory, so people running the dungeons for tomes would basically do it without you, if you chose to watch cutscenes. It was watch the cutscenes or do the battles. Now you get to do both, unless there's somebody doing the disconnect exploit, but that's fairly rare. SE made these dungeons like this, because they figured from 1.0 and FFXI that people would team up with friends they made to do it, which is why in this dungeon your party features in CSes with you. They put it in its own roulette, because they had to acknowledge that not everyone makes friends or is socially savvy enough to form a group for it on their own, to make it time convenient to do. Also to ensure that new players could get it done. It's not ideal, but it is the only dungeon you'll experience this in, as all future MSQ dungeons are 4 man only, without cutscenes littered throughout.

If you want to experience it at your own pace, then form a group especially for that in the PF.

[Esmoire]

In my opinion it's one of the most embarrassing parts of FFXIV. The last two dungeons should just be solo duties with AI allies; the last fight with Ultima can be made into a trial that is a step below the ex version in difficulty. This should have been done years ago rather than a series of bandaid fixes that ultimately end up waving a huge extrinsic reward to get people to do something they know isn't fun.

Sorry you had that experience. I agree with you that's it's really awful. Going through that followed by the atrocious early 2.X experience almost had me quit the game.

[Enla]

If it helps those are literally the only two dungeons that do that, because SE caught so much flack back when they first came out and in the intervening years that they never attempted something so ridiculous again. So going forward you should be safe to enjoy the story without the actual content being skipped.

[Shougun]

In my opinion it's one of the most embarrassing parts of FFXIV. The last two dungeons should just be solo duties with AI allies; the last fight with Ultima can be made into a trial that is a step below the ex version in difficulty. This should have been done years ago rather than a series of bandaid fixes that ultimately end up waving a huge extrinsic reward to get people to do something they know isn't fun.

Sorry you had that experience. I agree with you that's it's really awful. Going through that followed by the atrocious early 2.X experience almost had me quit the game.

When someone said 'but what can be done?' I just thought this too. I personally liked doing them for the big exp, pulling /everything/ ever in big wall to wall pulls (if healer gives consent, and party doesn't seem afraid) because it's hilarious looking and some of the biggest balls of trash you'll see in the game, and seeing new players (telling them about buttons and following as it makes sense), but honestly it might be potentially more fun, for new players, these days with just a good cast of trust AI. It might also be an excuse to revamp squadron content, mixing in some trust elements, and making the content have a more settled future- which could be a nice happy bonus. Cid on the radio guiding you as the crew quickly take down the base, occasionally jumping in as a trust ally.