Why I'm Quitting

[Cannahbliss]

Redacted to delete game.

[DeWynter]

I've been playing this game since 2.0 release, and late this year much like yourself I decided to introduce my SO to the game, it was her first MMO of it's kind and she was freshly level 50 when we ran Praetorium.

We had a similar experience as you, however, we managed to keep up relatively well with the pack up and around until the mech portion of the duty, where we got left behind, it was only by the time the party engaged Nero that we could help again. Unlike your experience however, no one blamed us, and I don't think people blaming new tanks for something like that is a very common experience, it just seems to be Praetorium that's ran with this 'speedrunners' efficiency. I think mostly due to the duty's length compared to others. The best advice I could truly offer, if you and your girlfriend ever do decide to come back to the game, is in such cases as Praetorium, wait for the team to clear until the duty's boss, where anyone left behind will be offered opportunity to teleport directly to the fight. Not ideal, by any means, but Praetorium is just one of those old pieces of content no one seems to enjoy taking their time with if they can help it, and while their way of doing it impacted your experience, their way isn't a strictly wrong way to play, either.

If you move on to new games, I hope you have a better time, if not then I'm relatively certain the experience was likely a unique enough one that it won't repeat that commonly, from my experience.

[Nafreyu]

Your situation is that while you were either dead in the gutter, lost, or just stuck in a cut scene. You would have been relegated to being the Off Tank, and not the Main Tank by the group.

They aren't going to be concerned if it's your first time or your 100th. They also aren't in control of the excessive clips and when they trigger. If you're just a straggler, somewhere back there /gestures over shoulder then they're gonna keep moving forward.

Because they want to make that extremely rewarding but soul destroying daily repetition of 45 minutes over and done with.

I can imagine that roulette would be bewildering the first couple times, from the unnecessary length of it to the excessive talking, or figuring out where the catch up portals are... Thank God these days the game ports you to the current fight once it's started.

You do realise at any point during this roulette of course you can press enter, type in chat and give a heads up to the others that you're *still* there but lost but on your way? No one would boot you for that.

You would have been booted because they can't see your screen, and it's common enough that people load in, afk and get the xp hoping they don't get a kick.

While I am sorry this is your outcome, perhaps it is best you do park mmo's if this is enough to trigger a forum post like this.

[JOsha]

Why did u not try using the "Shortcut" thing in the starting area? Its normal for someone to die to the first set of mobs, acting as a "sacrifice" for the rest and then using the shortcut button to get back.

Did u not get a prompt to be teleported to the instanced area? It pops up if the rest of the grp has started a boss fight and you weren't there, it lets u directly teleport to the instanced area.

Anyway, Its normal for people to rush praetorium and castrum, get used to it. I usually try to help any newbies if they get left behind, all you had to do was ask is in the chat if someone was willing to come back for ya.

[Tulzscha]

I also had a horrible first experience there. Thankfully there are only two instances in the game like this.

[EorzeaWanderer]

OP, if you enjoyed the game up to Praetorium, it would be sad to see you go now.

Castrum Meridianum and Praetorium are the only two instances in the game with forced, time-consuming cutscenes and relatively large experience point and end-game tomestone rewards (through the roulette). This unfortunate combination incentivizes players to run the gameplay portions of these duties as fast as they possibly can.

Due to the instances also not usually requiring a full, eight-player party, it also, in rare cases, incentivizes moochers to try and AFK and get the rewards without doing anything. Unfortunately you were tagged as one of these people even though that's not what you were trying to do. The only solution would have been to pipe up and say you were lost (chatting is possible during cutscenes).

No other instances in the game suffer from this perverse combination of forced cutscenes, huge motivation to rush, and individual players not being essential to the group.

I've had my own experiences with Praetorium, including my first-ever run where everyone teleported to the next area and left me alone with a magitek army. It was not fun.

My advice would be to get your SO through the instance, and enjoy the entire rest of the game you have in front of you. Don't look back and don't do Main Scenario roulette. You can get your experience and tomestones from plenty of other places that are actually a fun use of your time.

Hope you stick with the game!

[Hasrat]

Consider it a learning experience.

Don't attack mobs until the tank stops. (not universally true, but takes additional learning to know when and how to not pull aggro while running)
Turn off your tank stance if there is another tank using theirs.

[Sinavie]

So sorry this happened to you. I went through the same thing when I went in the 1st time last month for my msq. I wasn't kicked yet but the tank wanted to take a vote for some reason. I was completely lost about everything. He didn't have the patience to guide me. The others were quiet. I left voluntarily. I went back in immediately again with another group. I kept up better with the new group and followed and observed more. They were also extremely nice since I was the only Sprout there.

It's a learning experience. They go quick, and you just gotta do your best to keep up and stay sharp. You'll meet the random jerk but don't take it personally or let others influence or bring you down.

[DBriggs304]

Sometimes, we rarely get some rude folks in duties. Don't let that discourage you if you really want to keep playing. Most players are awesome.

[Jeeqbit]

I was doing the Pratorium with my girlfriend. It was her first time through and my 3rd. We're both new to the game. The the first thing I said was "I'm new here. This is my first time tanking this" Within 30 seconds we got killed by a mob of people while everyone else teleported away.

These are the only two 8-person dungeons in the game and they didn't repeat them, because unfortunately this is what happens with this format. They are speedrunning and skipping those enemies because they can be and it confuses most people on their first time.

After that we couldn't find our way back to the group.

30 seconds into a boss fight, it allows you to teleport into it. Once a boss is defeated, a shortcut appears at the start so you can teleport to where the last boss was killed.

It's quite extreme that you were kicked over it and also not something that normally happens, but over the course years you do occasionally run into a few instances of rude behaviour, especially as a tank. There may not be a lot of talking in dungeons, but when you start tanking a lot of people want you to do this, that or the other, with the desires of each party conflicting with the last and sometimes they get toxic over it. You can report this and they will usually get warned or banned. I experienced it several times when I started tanking.