Praetorium - Worst Experience Ever

[Awha]

Sad what I read here. Essentially telling new players to play the game a certain way. Telling them to find a FC (when many don't want to) or starting a PF (which can take damn forever).

Is it wrong to say you are new and get a bit of help? I don't think so. Heck even I take a few minutes to explain things or say a few words. This is one of many reasons people leave the game.

It is not wrong, but honestly would not be shocked if no one in the group cared all that much that someone was new, and to expect as much seems foolish. Reason I mention running it with an FC or set up a PF at the very least hopefully you are able to run it at your desired pace with like minded individuals. Cause the reality is i am willing to bet most people straight up do not run MSQ to help people they do it for the rewards.

Being new is some some free pass for people to automatically help someone out as sad or annoying as people may find it.

[Mavrias]

Just follow your group and you won't get lost. You missed out on more story by throwing a tantrum and trying to force a DC than you would had you just tried to keep up. I assure you that random skipped group of trash at the beginning did not add anything to the story. Garlean mook #9862 does not say anything important if you kill him.

Run it again if you're really feeling some type of way about it, but imo praetorium and castrum are some of the most uninteresting parts of the story and you didn't miss much.

[Bsrking5]

Well those two are worse dungeons and the devs learned to never do it that bad again. The OP also made their situation worse by throwing a temper tantrum and trying subvert the game. So that is all their fault. Why they devs never changed it is well just really poor reason. Its old content, just ignore it if its not gamebreaking and make new content

[LumiBlue]

Thank you for all of the replies.

My character is out of Praetorium.


I guess I was either out of the game long enough, or a GM saw my request to move my character so I do not see the end cutscene of out context. Probably the former since my character is in the Waking Sands instead of Northern Thanalan.

For some of the later replies who find my post to be self-entitled or aggressive, well, I'm sorry. But not one time did someone say "we are high level players rushing for rewards". No one said "just stick with us and click on this thing". The only things going on in chat were people joking around or not chatting at all. No one tried to explain anything when I asked.

Not when I got killed by a train of mobs after not clicking on a door that wasn't obvious. Not after I missed the Magitek key because and had to go back for it. (In many previous dungeons all 'key' like items are group progress and only require a single player to click it for the group). This got me skipped ahead a cinematic or two when I'm on my way up the elevator and suddenly my character is blowing everything up and challenging Gaius.

If you do not understand how being teleported around left and right, not getting responses from chat, and seeing cutscenes you haven't advance to yet can be a jarring and negative experience for a new player, than I am sorry to have wasted your time.

I've experienced rushing before in other dungeons when people are leveling new jobs. I'm not new to it. The post was two fold. One about the dungeon community and new players, the other about the design itself. I can rush when it's time to rush. And I can deal with unresponsive chat when people just want to get things done. It's the antipodal combination of such conduct inside the MSQ that upsets me.

Now that I'm out I'll see if I can find an organized run. Or at least just watch the cutscenes in proper order at an inn before accepting the Epilogue quest.

Thank you again for all the replies. Even the "go watch youtube" guy.

[Esmoire]

Thank you for all of the replies.

My character is out of Praetorium.


I guess I was either out of the game long enough, or a GM saw my request to move my character so I do not see the end cutscene of out context. Probably the former since my character is in the Waking Sands instead of Northern Thanalan.

For some of the later replies who find my post to be self-entitled or aggressive, well, I'm sorry. But not one time did someone say "we are high level players rushing for rewards". No one said "just stick with us and click on this thing". The only things going on in chat were people joking around or not chatting at all. No one tried to explain anything when I asked.

Not when I got killed by a train of mobs after not clicking on a door that wasn't obvious. Not after I missed the Magitek key because and had to go back for it. (In many previous dungeons all 'key' like items are group progress and only require a single player to click it for the group). This got me skipped ahead a cinematic or two when I'm on my way up the elevator and suddenly my character is blowing everything up and challenging Gaius.

If you do not understand how being teleported around left and right, not getting responses from chat, and seeing cutscenes you haven't advance to yet can be a jarring and negative experience for a new player, than I am sorry to have wasted your time.

I've experienced rushing before in other dungeons when people are leveling new jobs. I'm not new to it. The post was two fold. One about the dungeon community and new players, the other about the design itself. I can rush when it's time to rush. And I can deal with unresponsive chat when people just want to get things done. It's the antipodal combination of such conduct inside the MSQ that upsets me.

Now that I'm out I'll see if I can find an organized run. Or at least just watch the cutscenes in proper order at an inn before accepting the Epilogue quest.

Thank you again for all the replies. Even the "go watch youtube" guy.

Oh, your take on the experience is completely valid, and while no one is under any obligation to communicate, I think you are right to feel the absence of any indication of what is happening is kind of a bad experience. I also don't think it's entitled at all to expect like... a game to be fun. Those two dungeons are awful. It's been almost two years and I still remember how much I didn't like it, and I'd like it even less if I didn't have people give me a quick rundown of what was going on. Sorry you had that experience. FFXIV can be way, way, way better than that in terms of gameplay and community.

If you ever want to be able to run it a better tempo and given some idea of what is happening, feel free to reach out. We are both on Primal and I don't mind helping people run content.

[Gemina]

Thank you for all of the replies.

My character is out of Praetorium.


I guess I was either out of the game long enough, or a GM saw my request to move my character so I do not see the end cutscene of out context. Probably the former since my character is in the Waking Sands instead of Northern Thanalan.

For some of the later replies who find my post to be self-entitled or aggressive, well, I'm sorry. But not one time did someone say "we are high level players rushing for rewards". No one said "just stick with us and click on this thing". The only things going on in chat were people joking around or not chatting at all. No one tried to explain anything when I asked.

Not when I got killed by a train of mobs after not clicking on a door that wasn't obvious. Not after I missed the Magitek key because and had to go back for it. (In many previous dungeons all 'key' like items are group progress and only require a single player to click it for the group). This got me skipped ahead a cinematic or two when I'm on my way up the elevator and suddenly my character is blowing everything up and challenging Gaius.

If you do not understand how being teleported around left and right, not getting responses from chat, and seeing cutscenes you haven't advance to yet can be a jarring and negative experience for a new player, than I am sorry to have wasted your time.

I've experienced rushing before in other dungeons when people are leveling new jobs. I'm not new to it. The post was two fold. One about the dungeon community and new players, the other about the design itself. I can rush when it's time to rush. And I can deal with unresponsive chat when people just want to get things done. It's the antipodal combination of such conduct inside the MSQ that upsets me.

Now that I'm out I'll see if I can find an organized run. Or at least just watch the cutscenes in proper order at an inn before accepting the Epilogue quest.

Thank you again for all the replies. Even the "go watch youtube" guy.

Hi Lumi. If it helps, know that there are just as many players who sympathize with you as there are those who are dismissive. A lot of players missed this experience, and as you have read; it used to be worse when the cutscenes could be skipped. My experience was horrible, and was during that time. Even though I said I would skip the cutscenes and to 'try' to not leave me in the dust, it happened within minutes anyway, and you just have to love being the only one without a magitek mount.

Even though the cutscenes are forced now, it still doesn't change that players do not care if you are new here. You will still get left behind if you are not keeping the pace with everyone else. It does not change that Prae remains a nightmare for new players simply because even though the devs's heart was in the right place when designing this content, they did not/could not foresee how the player base would treat it in future days.

Try not to let it discourage you. Continue to play FFXIV as it is a wonderful experience outside of Prae. Best of luck in your future endeavors!

[EaMett]

I'm going to go with the middle ground here:

This only concerns two dungeons, Prae and Castrum. Prae is the worse one because of the TP skips at the beginning really not being beginner-friendly since you need to know to do them and not hit any monsters in the process.

With that said, they are also pointless pulls that tell you nothing and show you nothing, and if you had just decided to rez and follow them via the catch up tp thingy at the entrance (when you raise) you would have gotten 99% of the dungeon experience, seen all the cutscenes and wouldn't be here posting about this.
In addition to this, this dungeon is a dungeon you'll be doing so often in your ff14 career that you will be sick and tired of it before long. I 100% guarantee you you'll be rushing through it as fast as possible.

Two things happened that led to your experience:
1) Your party failed to inform you about what to do for the first two pulls. That's on them
2) You gave up way too easily. That's on you.

Know that you can do this again and will be running it many many times moving forward. And know that it's also the last dungeon of it's sort. From here on out you will no longer run into these issues.

[Yue_Amariyo]

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.

from my research it has been run like that since launch. Most mobs are negligible from what im told. as in even new players bum rushed it, as most 1.0 players were already lvl 50 going into arr. when it comes to df you have to adapt to the group. If you want content run a certain way, make friends and run that content together as the pace you want.

Also before you say: <hello first time here, mind we go at a slower pace?> or at least say you are new. If you get ignored, or bullied ask for a votekick or leave and get a 30min penalty.

[Barraind]

from my research it has been run like that since launch

Have never killed the packs at those 2 spots. Been many, many years. They're pointless, and always have been.

[Shougun]

I used to kill them when it was new enough that most of the party was first timers, but that hasn't been true for quite some time - these days if you don't take care of it smoothly and rush then someone will rush and make it chaotic. Better just to let new people know what to do while the loading barrier shuts down.


It can be helpful for someone to not just face pull them like I see sometimes people do, as new people might draw aggro before they realize to read chat / see that they need to touch something.