Why do cutscenes in the MSQ Roulette play if the instance has no new players?

[MellowMink]

I understand why cutscenes are unskippably played (and very slowly played when it comes to text prompts) at the moment: It's so that newer players can watch the story scenes without having to worry about gameplay interruptions. I'm also aware that this is the main reason that high experience point amounts are granted, so that higher-leveled players feel an incentive to join the roulette to ensure that newer players can get their needed clears to advance through the game's story content.

...That all said, if an instance is started and the game detects that there aren't any new players, meaning that there's no poetics bonus message, what value is there in the roulette still playing the slow text scenes if everybody has already completed the instance? It's a punishment for the sake of a reward, but it adds no value to the game, only harm.

Personally, I would like to see those two outdated dungeons completely replaced with lengthy single-player instances, but if that can't be done for... whatever reason, then doesn't it make sense for the instances to either require at least one new player or not play scenes when there are no such new players?

Yes, the latter means that there could be instances where nobody is new to the dungeon yet may still receive high rewards, but again, this could also be solved by forcing there to be at least one new player before one of the dungeon instances can be kicked off. My problem is that you can run into situations where the players are being exposed to lengthy periods of waiting but for no perceived benefit to any newer players due to newer players being absent, and that seems unhealthy to me. The systems in the game encourage this as an easy way to gain lots of experience, and thus many players will follow a broken system even if there's no benefit for any newer players.

[DrWho2010]

it's simple, if you want the reward for MSQ roulette you sit thru the cutscenes. simple as that.

Don't want to sit thru cutscenes? don't run the roulette. The duty finder does not check whether a player is new or not to a dungeon, it is there simply to match people up.

If there is no cutscenes, you get no reward.

[MistakeNot]

One reason is because they can't (easily) make two different versions of the instance. Either cutscenes are skippable or they are not - a version where they are skippable only sometimes is not possible with reasonable amount of work.

Also, the only reason we get such good rewards from the MSQ roulette is because of the unskippable cutscenes. The rewards are basically a bribe to make us run the roulette despite the long cutscenes.
Make the cutscenes skippable and you can kiss the big rewards goodbye too.

[Jojoya]

If they were to program it so it wouldn't play cutscenes if there are no new players in the group, that would become an incentive to kick new players from the party so everyone left could skip the cutscenes.

If you don't want to watch cutscenes, don't queue for MSQ roulette. There are plenty of other ways to earn XP/tomestones/gil.

[Justuas]

If they were to program it so it wouldn't play cutscenes if there are no new players in the group, that would become an incentive to kick new players from the party so everyone left could skip the cutscenes.

Literally wouldn't be a problem if they made it so that kicking the new players wouldn't allow you to skip the cs. In other words, if there were at least one new player at the start, you wouldn't be able to skip the cs even if you kicked the new player(s).

[Frizze]

Literally wouldn't be a problem if they made it so that kicking the new players wouldn't allow you to skip the cs. In other words, if there were at least one new player at the start, you wouldn't be able to skip the cs even if you kicked the new player(s).

Then you would kick the new player, abandon instance without penalty(there is no penalty for leaving if the group isnt full), and que again and hope not to get new player. Or you would only que for it with a full group to insure that no new players were present, thus making it harder for new players to get into an instance. If there exists a short version of the instance with the same rewards as the long version, then there are players who WILL find a way to take advantage of that in a way that will hurt new players. Believe it.

Though i do agree with one thing OP said. The actual solution has always been to make these solo instances(and pull out the big fight at the end as a full group trial to end 2.0).

[Stepjam]

Then instead you'd have players that just abandon as soon as they see there are new players in the instance.
Hell, that happened for a while whenever people got Castrum over the Praetorium.

The best option would be for them to rework the two instances into something different, maybe a solo instance. But chances are if they have any plans for that, they aren't in the cards for the immediate future, so really this is the best option we got right now.

[kiagenwa]

The actual solution has always been to make these solo instances(and pull out the big fight at the end as a full group trial to end 2.0).

Nah. I love this roulette for its rewards.
You don't want to do it then don't do it. Simple 'nuff.

I'm ok with the current setup. If I don't have time, I just skip it. No harm done.
If less ppl join the roulette for what it is, the devs would most probably increase the rewards or nerf it even further.

If they make these solo instances, I hope they offer something else in replacement.

[Frizze]

Nah. I love this roulette for its rewards.
You don't want to do it then don't do it. Simple 'nuff.

And believe me, i dont run these instances. I also dont make endless threads complaining about them. I have never run the MSQ roulette, and ive only run castrum and prae once since the change to unskippable cutscenes was made(to help an RL friend). I support the single player instance idea because it solves the problems the instances lead to for new players. I also happen to have the less popular opinion that "no effort" means of leveling up should be severely limited if not outright removed. So no MSQ roulette, cut the xp from CT by 75-90% once a class hits level 60, ban anyone who equips lower level items to prevent being qued into higher level instances... you know, unpopular ideas like that.

[DPZ2]

There is no current "problem" with the MSQ roulette. It is working as intended. I'd rather that battle development resources be used to implement, oh, I don't know, current and future battle instances rather than revamp past expansion instances simply to make it 'easier' for a player to get a large amount of XP.