Castrum Lacus Litore declining participation

[Avatre]

They need to boost the rewards for Castrum. I've mentioned my idea in another thread, but it was basically:

• Full clear of Castrum yields 1 of each memory, at the very least - double that if all prisoners are rescued
• Add lockboxes to the chests as well as what is already there
• Give mettle for the boss fights, at least enough to off-set the amount lost due to death
• Give a multiple of the current number of coins for a clear of Castrum(at least 3x the number of coins)

They could also change up the way the memories are given for Skirmishes and Critical Engagements. 75% chance with Skirmishes, and 100% chance from CE. And get rid of those damned fireworks from the lockboxes. Or at least drop the % by 90% of whatever it currently is, which I'm sure is a 90% chance to get the fireworks, and 10% chance to get ANYTHING else. Change it around to be 10% chance fireworks, 90% chance anything else(even the cracked clusters for materia is better than fireworks!)

[Marxam]

It's going to get buffed/adjusted eventually however the initial implementation is always something that irked me as "grindy with little incentive". The upgrade drops are horrible (I have yet to see one), coin drops were incredibly low when they were castrum exclusive, and you could potentially wipe before getting to the last boss because you don't have enough time for more than two pulls or people to scared to go up top. Ultimately putting coins as drops in fates is what killed castrum because that's what people wanted in the first place so rather than increase the coin drop in castrum they just made it appear everywhere else. The deep essence were fine but even the lesser versions can be farmed with ease and with much higher yield rather than waiting for almost an hour to get in only to get 5 at a time.

[Sarevok_Thordin]

It was way too early to give people a lazy way to get coins.

[Vahlnir]

It was way too early to give people a lazy way to get coins.

Eh, that was only part of the problem. The biggest issue was how unrewarding Castrum was to begin with. It needed, and still needs, more than coins and nearly impossible to get gear augments. Even without being able to grind coins from Fates and CEs it would have lost traffic regardless.

[Reinha]

Eh, that was only part of the problem. The biggest issue was how unrewarding Castrum was to begin with. It needed, and still needs, more than coins and nearly impossible to get gear augments. Even without being able to grind coins from Fates and CEs it would have lost traffic regardless.

I agree with this. The average player is motivated by better PvE gear, glamours and collection items like mounts. Castrum offers outdated 495 gear, coins to buy augments which most people don't care about and an hour away from cluster farming. All for what? Negative mettle? There is no reason to run it except once for the story.

Monsters should have never been the best way to get clusters, fragments and memories.

[WoW]

or nerf it so it can be done with no more than 16 players, or have the encounter difficulty scale with the number of participants

16 players can do it already.

[Shinklet]

16 players can do it already.

It's been done with a single party, don't hope on saving all prisoners though lol.

two parties, just a shred of co-ordination and it's doable. People are just lazy and want others to do the co-ordination for them.

[Vahlnir]

It's been done with a single party, don't hope on saving all prisoners though lol.

two parties, just a shred of co-ordination and it's doable. People are just lazy and want others to do the co-ordination for them.

I've been in there my fair share of attempts. Not once have I ever seen it done with less than 25. Any less than that simply aren't capable of killing the first boss(es), let along what comes next. This has been my experience.

[Seraphor]

I've been in there my fair share of attempts. Not once have I ever seen it done with less than 25. Any less than that simply aren't capable of killing the first boss(es), let along what comes next. This has been my experience.

Done it with 16. The Most I've ever done it with is 22.

[WoW]

I've been in there my fair share of attempts. Not once have I ever seen it done with less than 25. Any less than that simply aren't capable of killing the first boss(es), let along what comes next. This has been my experience.

I have been in a PUG that did it with 18 people on the first week. We only died once at Lyon, but that was a coordination issue on which party goes top and we had a bunch of players that were new including me. Of course saving all prisoners was out of the question.