The Praetorium kind of sucked.

[Yvresse]

Hello, I just finished the main story quest. It has been building up for 50 levels over the last month I been playing, but it was kinda not so fun.

I got lost and everyone ran past some mobs and I couldn't go past them so I just ran around separated from the party while they fought mobs elsewhere. Then there were some boss fight and chose to be teleported to it. And the boss died in about 25 seconds. It didn't really feel like a fight. Normal 5 man dungeons were more difficult with the sirens that stun you in Haunted Manor.
Then everyone was on Magitek armor and I wasn't, kept sprinting to try to keep up with them.
And while the whole story is trying to be epic with the cutscenes i just felt really left out and underwhelemed. Then everyone died, Gauis, His minions, Ultima weapon, they all just melted i think the longest fight was 55 seconds.

I would have preferred to do it as a normal 5 man or even single player so I could at least absorb whats happening/react to mechanics. Cause it felt like it was trying to be epic but just was trivialized.

Now they all dead and defeated and I dont feel accomplished. its just like oh the garleans are gone now

[Jeeqbit]

I got lost and everyone ran past some mobs and I couldn't go past them so I just ran around separated from the party while they fought mobs elsewhere.

It's common to get lost on your first time there. They usually skip fighting mobs or a tank rounds them up and sacrifices themselves while everyone else passes through to the next area. There is a shortcut at the start to catch up with everyone and each boss fight let's you port in after it's started, in case someone is behind.

Then everyone was on Magitek armor and I wasn't, kept sprinting to try to keep up with them.

Each person has to click a terminal to unlock the magitek armor, then take the lift up and use the magitek armor to ride it. It's common for new players not to click the terminal, but the party usually does try to point them to it if there is an opportunity.

It used to be worse because the rest of the party used to be able to skip cut scenes, so would blaze through it while you were watching them. A lot of what you experience before the expansions is annoying, but everything after was made to avoid problems like this and the quality improves a lot.

And the boss died in about 25 seconds. It didn't really feel like a fight. Normal 5 man dungeons were more difficult with the sirens that stun you in Haunted Manor.

There are two reasons for that. The way most content syncs it still causes people to be overgeared. It's scaled for a certain item level and just being slightly higher can make it a lot easier. Praetorium is scaled to item level 42 but most people are synced to the maximum item level of ARR (130), which is more than 3 times the gear level it was designed for. You can do it with the minimum item level setting if you pre-form your party with 7 friends that want to do it that way and the enemies should take longer, but most people are not into doing things minimum item level.

The other reason is that all story content is easy on purpose. If it were really challenging then some people would not be able to progress through the story because of not being very good.

There are optional, challenging versions of a lot of fights which are unlocked through sidequests, including Ultima and these can be identified if the name contains (Extreme)/Minstrel's Ballad or Coil/(Savage). You usually need a party that knows what they are doing so party finder is used to assemble a party for them. If you want the most challenge from them you can use the Minimum IL and Silence Echo settings.

[Brightamethyst]

The Praetorium is a neat concept that hasn't aged well. You have to remember that the game is eight years old now. At launch, when your average player was running it for the first time at ilevel 45 or so, it really was an epic final dungeon experience. Today though, with three expansions worth of buffs and most people over three times the minimum ilevel? Not so much.

[Gyson]

Unfortunately it's too late for for this advice to be of any real use to you, but for future players approaching level 50 I suggest experiencing Castrum Meridianum and The Praetorium with friends or FC members who are willing to treat this finale with the appreciation it deserves. If done at the minimum item-level, even better. It makes for an excellent finale to 50 levels of adventuring.

Absent of friends or an FC willing to accompany you, try your hand at the Party Finder (rather than relying on the Duty Finder). It may take a little time and effort to assemble a like-minded group manually, but I'm sure there is no shortage of new players hoping for an epic experience, and the end result and lasting memory will likely be well worth it.

Whenever possible I would recommend doing any dungeon or trial of consequence at minimum item-level, particularly if you're likely to be disappointed if the difficulty fails to meet your expectations.

I wonder if there is already a Fellowship devoted to this sort of adventuring. That may also be worth checking into.

[Bearded]

The design of The Praetorium was a major fail - it should never have had all those cutscenes (zzzzz snooze) nor the run run run to get past mobs to next zone.

The Devs never repeated that mistake - it gets better.

[Yvresse]

Oh ok I understand now, thank you guys.