Variant & Criterion Dungeons

[MisterNublet]

You can absolutely clear the savage in 610 gear.

You're right. People also cleared p8s with 610 gear. That doesn't mean everyone else can, nor should be attempting at this point. Especially in ASSS. Between time limit, enrages, outgoing damage, and 1 death=wipe... anything not near 630 or BiS is borderline trolling and you'll be stressing out your healer (and annoying your party).

[CaedemSanguis]

You can absolutely clear the savage in 610 gear.

Considering Im very close to death on each trashmobs packs (im 630 and my heal is 625), i doubt very very much that a i610 tank+heal can get through the dungeon

[KenaiChoppa]

I did my first run solo. It was fun, good bosses, nice story line... im happy with it.

[Tatiana]

I think they need more rewards, be it glams or minions but I feel like the rewards have relatively limited appeal and there aren't really very many. I wouldn't add a gearing system to this at all, but more cosmetics and maybe better titles would make it more worth-while for longer-term play.

[ovIm]

I am a bit disappointed that you can't use Criterion Dungeons to gear up. Of course, a whole new set of gear would be too much to ask, however, tomestone upgrade materials and perhaps another earring so people that don't do savage for one reason or another can gear up to max ilevel without waiting for the catch up patch would have been nice.

That being said, I enjoy this kind of content. Variant dungeons solo do make you feel like a proper adventurer, and finding the solutions to the different puzzles is a lot of fun. I do hope SqEx expands on this kind of content.

[WalksIntoMordor]

Impressions from the Variant (haven't tackled Criterion yet):

Pros:
Love the variable paths, and how little things can affect the fights that follow. It actually feels like a real dungeon.
Variant Actions help make it very solo-able. I've experimented with a bunch of jobs but settled on SMN with Variant Rampart and Variant Cure as my go-to - the bosses are about the same on most of the jobs I've done, but the trash melts under SMN's AOE onslaught. Also love how VRam and VSpirit Dart are OGCD abilities so you can weave them in whenever you have space. I get why the Cure wasn't OGCD, but it does throw off rotations a bit when you need to apply it.
Mechanics tended to be very well telegraphed, in a good way - they are easy enough to understand but still require thought and care to address.
LOVE the deep lore exploration. I knew about some of the things revealed in here from the Encyclopedia but the game never addressed them or left them not-fully-explored. It was great to see things like the old alliance between certain powers (won't spoil for those who haven't done the right routes) and the Sil'dih war come into focus.

Cons:
Biggest gripe is that changing jobs isn't really a thing you can do. You CAN switch, but then you're on cooldown with different abilities taking different time to get ready. While I would have liked anytime swapping, I get why that WOULDN'T work, but if you're going to allow it between pulls, make it so that we're ready to go.
Could do more with the trash, I feel. Make them a bit more meaningful.
I'm a bit disappointed there isn't a way to spend the SAVAGE resources on upgrade mats. I wouldn't expect that from the Variant or even Criterion, but Savage deserves it IMO.
While I enjoyed the Variant Actions, I also felt like they were TOO limited. Even if they don't want to make full on Lost Action holsters' worth of options, they could have made visual presentation variable for each player based on the jobs they have. So, instead of Variant Rampart, you could get the animation of Variant Darkest Night if you have DRK at 90, or even Variant Magicked Barrier. Keep the same mechanical effects, but let me choose to rep my other jobs visually at least.

Hopes/suggestions going forward:
Kind of hoping for some super rewards later down the line that allow you to spend the currencies from multiple Variant dungeons.
Also kind of expect/hope this will be relevant for the relic weapons.

[Aniya_Estlihn]

Also kind of expect/hope this will be relevant for the relic weapons.

Not gonna happen. They already said this relic series will be quest based like anima, they aren't going to tie it to new content, that's not the point of relics.

[Jandor]

I am a bit disappointed that you can't use Criterion Dungeons to gear up. Of course, a whole new set of gear would be too much to ask, however, tomestone upgrade materials and perhaps another earring so people that don't do savage for one reason or another can gear up to max ilevel without waiting for the catch up patch would have been nice.

I think a set of Sil'dih themed accessories would have been a decent compromise. Maybe i620, but gets a stat boost so they're equivalent to i630 when in a light party.

[MagiusNecros]

I think the dungeons need gear/weapon rewards. For the most part this seems like a way to get IX/X materia with extra steps. When you can just run Adventurer in Need in roulettes or spam Troia.

Maybe they should add the Bozja/Zadnor dungeons and Critical engagements as Variant/Criterion Trials/Dungeons considering they screwed up getting people to join and you need essences while V/C dungeons give you those for free?

I see no reason to make the dungeon ilvl610 unless you can get ilvl615-ilvl620 gear on say a weekly lockout.

Once you get the Hamster you probably won't ever go back.

The hard mode rewards are quite pathetic(Picture Frame, Chair, Materia) and players will only do hard content if the reward is worth it. Anytime I can do content ranging from easy to moderate I'll do but anything more is an easy pass.

Not sure what the purpose of putting housing items in as a reward when no one can get a house?

Maybe if the glam had lvl 90 stats peeps would complain less?

I imagine this content will be required for relics just you wait.

[hynaku]

Content that have no plans on ever doing.