Variant & Criterion Dungeons

[Ransu]

All they had to do for these new dungeons was create a unique gearing system for them like Eureka. The most disappointing thing is that you can’t even mess around with different jobs. You’re pigeon holed to the job that you acquired savage gear with.

I had a few friends sign up just to mess around in harder 4man content and it’s not even doable without weeks of raid and/or tomestone gear. Why is that a requirement for a dungeon with no reward? A unique gear system inside the dungeon would solve this and let people explore different jobs as well.

You can clear it with the crafted 610 gear...

[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.

[Libby9]

You can’t clear savage dungeon in all 610, which should’ve said instead of “harder.” I thought it was obvious but my b

[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.

[Kaliesto]

Hello I was directed here from my topic on the subject, so I'll transfer over what I wrote:

I think its kind of cool this idea was something I posted before awhile back minus some differences, and while I definitely like the direction this is going in, but there is a few gripes I have mainly with the normal difficulty version.

The Cons:

1) I think the Monsters should be randomized, and slightly more tougher and their mechanics should be on the same speed like the harder version. Not only will this get players a bit more trained, but helps them out in the harder content.

2) While I appreciate the slightly different mechanics with the 1st boss, but I think the 1st boss in each pathway should had been different rather than the same boss. The fun factor gets hurt in this regard.

3) Since you can change jobs during the dungeon run I think this was a missed opportunity to let different jobs have the ability to open different pathways or find interesting things, it would have added a bit more replay and fun.

4) More Reward variety, I've seen the complaints on the forums here about it.

The Pros:

1) The puzzles are decent enough, Its kind of hard to do puzzles these days because of the internet but still I like it was still tried.

2) The Branching pathways to fill up that book was a nice way to get players to try different routes. There has been a lot of arguments regarding how if this was done in normal dungeons people would try to take the path of least resistance, but the rewards here negates that and everything is on even ground. I wanted something like this for a very long time, and happy Yoshida & Friends made the attempt here. I would love this actually start being done for normal dungeons in general!

I would say they should done more branching paths during the first part of the dungeon besides the last half just to make more interesting, but this is a good start.


That is all I can think of atm..I kind of wanted to share this with the JPN forum, but I'm none too confident using DeepL.

[AstreMcClain]

I will admit whole heartedly that I am not clever enough to remember something on another route (I Spent all day hugging walls looking for some kind of lever to stores on the map after killing all the enemies there and to get to the shaded area on route 1). Eventually I grew tired after 3 Attempts (Two were purposely saying Lightning at the door) and went to route 1 with a friend who was having the same issue as I was on route three. Neither of us knew what to do there because nothing stood out. After He logged off, I looked up a guide (Just for one and two, I didn't scroll past that) cause it was very frustrating cause we ran back and forth several times on route 1 after clearing the entire path.

It wasn't until I made a PF to get some help with three that I was told that the hints were in the pages you get after clearing a route, I remained skeptical and pressed onward, they then told me that the codes for one and two were in another route.

Needless to say I don't do the "This quest won't be logged in journal..." quests for the same reason I find these hard: Even when I notice something and write it down I don't seem to fully understand what it is the game is trying to tell me in that moment so me remembering something from another route is extremely hard for me to even accomplish.

And while I know that I could always join a party and get help, like many other people have seen and stated in this thread, they don't know the hints and wind up screwing it up, or as the same friend had told me, they always bicker about which way to go.

Eventually I got into the stores mentioned earlier after I thought about it at the same time as the person helping me mention it but yeah, I don't like this if I have to remember other routes while looking for something I wouldn't recognize blatantly.

The Bosses are also Damage Sponges solo but that's an okay price to pay for being Solo. Other than that, I like the concept and everything.

No, I have not done every route at the time of writing this for obvious reasons as I like to clear things like this route by route considering I spent a combine two hours looking for a hidden switch for the door to the position.

Despite what you might think, no this is not a troll reply I actually spent most of my day hugging walls until I doordashed and the did the PF stuff when I got back.

[millktea]

Once again, someone rushes through new content as fast as possible then complains there's nothing to do.

It's going to last me weeks because it's not something I expect to do daily, and certainly not in one sitting. Then it may take me even longer depending on what rewards I decide I want from it.


That question applies to any content.

Is someone only doing it for the rewards, or are they doing it because they find it fun?

I repeat content because I have fun doing it. The rewards mean little in the long run because they only have value within the game itself. When I'm not playing the game, having the reward means nothing.

This sounds more like your lazy and disinterested.

It doesn't take long to clear most content in this game, so its funny how you downplay someone when this is MOST people.

It takes months for new things to come out, and since the game is repetitive, ofc they are going to do the new thing because ITS NEW.

Variant is extremely easy and that also made it easy to get fast guides. The difference between variant and criterion is too much though. I'm not saying I dislike hard content, I do it, but with C, C, and S, yeah I think C is too much more than V for little rewards.

People complain about the rewards. Yes, many do content just for fun but the rewards are a passive means to make the content last and the rewards aren't good enough for that. Should people get gear? No. Savage exists and nothing provides catch up until later. But materia? Something that's rather easy to get in the game? Yeah, no.

But no, I agree it won't last. I'm not going to lie and say its great enough for that. It's easy to farm tomes, but that's it. Played this game long enough to already know. Like, you can't really even get into potd 1-50! Why? No reason to go back lmao.

[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.

[Lustre]

SE demonstrating yet again they have no idea how to create midcore content, it goes from "braindead easy" to "savage equivalent" when you go from variant to criterion. Then to add salt to the wound, the main reward from it you can just buy on the market board and save yourself the trouble and effort. 33 runs for a crap mount no thanks.

And if you do savage? Your choice of materia X (easier to get elsewhere) an earring nobody will see or care about or a household furnishing that nobody will use.The thought that this is what they believe players want from a m+ equivalent system is laughable. No gearing rewards (like it matters anyway outside of w1 savage and ultimates), no alternate progression routes, sub-par rewards you can purchase on the market board instead of actually interacting with the content lmao. I guess they couldnt make the rewards good because then the great community would have a meltdown

That being said I did enjoy variant dungeons, for the two evenings they entertained me for.