ARR Post-Patched Content is dead…

[TheDarkAvenger]

I’m new to the game, having only played since the beginning of January. I’m in that main quest line that is supposed to lead you into Heavensward, but I want to finish most of the ARR stuff first. However, it seems like nobody bothers to queue up for the primal EX Trials (Ifrit, Titan, etc) or the Binding Coil raids these days. Am I really better off just ignoring all this extra stuff and focusing on HW? Just feels weird to me as a regular player of JRPGs.

[AmiableApkallu]

If you're playing on an NA or EU data center world, parties for the Bindings Coils, Extremes, and other higher-end content are typically organized via Party Finder.

The Extreme trials are only in Mentor Roulette, and the Coils are in none of the roulettes, so the population of people queueing for that content directly via Duty Finder isn't exactly large.

[Rongway]

it seems like nobody bothers to queue up for the primal EX Trials (Ifrit, Titan, etc) or the Binding Coil raids these days..

NA and EU players don't queue for Extreme trials and Savage raids from any expansion, including the the current one. This is because content of Extreme or higher difficulty includes mechanics that need to be handled with choreography and people will die if those mechanics are ignored. Some of the extreme trials from ARR are easily overgeared (Garuda, Shiva) but some still require a high level of party coordination (Ramuh). The three Coil tiers, though not marked as such, are the Savage raids of their day and have mechanics that can't be overgeared beginning with T5 (Binding Coil Turn 5). The general difficulty hierarchy goes something like this:

1. Normal - Failing a single mechanic will not kill you. Two or more people failing mechanics will usually not wipe the party.
2. Extreme - Failing a single mechanic may kill you, but the party can probably recover from your death. Two or more people failing mechanics will sometimes wipe the party.
3. Savage - Failing a single mechanic will usually kill you, and the party might not be able to recover from your death. Two or more people failing mechanics will typically wipe the party.
4. Ultimate - Failing a single mechanic will wipe the party.

Because of this, NA/EU players prefer to organize for Extreme+ content using /partyfinder (PF), where they can specify what type of party they want for the content and pre-agree on choreography, instead of being matched with people who might disagree on choreography or maybe not even understand how to Extreme at all. Just be clear about what you want in the PF listing, whether it's syncked or unsyncked, fresh or prog (fight experience to a certain point), spoiler-free or watched guide first, etc., and you should be able to get a group for whatever content you want to do.

[TheDarkAvenger]

If you're playing on an NA or EU data center world, parties for the Bindings Coils, Extremes, and other higher-end content are typically organized via Party Finder.

The Extreme trials are only in Mentor Roulette, and the Coils are in none of the roulettes, so the population of people queueing for that content directly via Duty Finder isn't exactly large.

Ah, I should have mentioned that I am playing on a North American world, specifically Cactuar.

Thanks for your explanation on how the roulette selection works, and how this affects the population who queue for what I’m looking for!

[TheDarkAvenger]

NA and EU players don't queue for Extreme trials and Savage raids from any expansion, including the the current one. This is because content of Extreme or higher difficulty includes mechanics that need to be handled with choreography and people will die if those mechanics are ignored. Some of the extreme trials from ARR are easily overgeared (Garuda, Shiva) but some still require a high level of party coordination (Ramuh). The three Coil tiers, though not marked as such, are the Savage raids of their day and have mechanics that can't be overgeared beginning with T5 (Binding Coil Turn 5). The general difficulty hierarchy goes something like this:

1. Normal - Failing a single mechanic will not kill you. Two or more people failing mechanics will usually not wipe the party.
2. Extreme - Failing a single mechanic may kill you, but the party can probably recover from your death. Two or more people failing mechanics will sometimes wipe the party.
3. Savage - Failing a single mechanic will usually kill you, and the party might not be able to recover from your death. Two or more people failing mechanics will typically wipe the party.
4. Ultimate - Failing a single mechanic will wipe the party.

Because of this, NA/EU players prefer to organize for Extreme+ content using /partyfinder (PF), where they can specify what type of party they want for the content and pre-agree on choreography, instead of being matched with people who might disagree on choreography or maybe not even understand how to Extreme at all. Just be clear about what you want in the PF listing, whether it's syncked or unsyncked, fresh or prog (fight experience to a certain point), spoiler-free or watched guide first, etc., and you should be able to get a group for whatever content you want to do.

This was an amazing reply, and I’m so thankful for your in-depth explanation of how the player base treats these kinds of higher-end duties. I’ve had better experience with using the Party Finder, and your difficulty system explains why Titan Extreme kicked my butt so much. You rock!

[dspguy]

Just to add to the very well done explanation by Rongway, some of it comes down to the simple fact that almost any content that is not current isn't worth running sync'd. The gear is for glam only and the difficulty of doing it sync'd is still there. The content can be easily cleared with an unsync'd party which you can't do within Duty Finder. So no one queues for it.

I'm not saying there isn't value in running content for the difficultly. Finding 7 other likeminded people might be hard. So, assume anything extreme/savage/higher is party finder only.

[AlexaAura]

There were a lot of people queuing normally in the duty finder for these when there was an influx of new players more then a year ago but now its died down. Most people trying to clear this are sprouts on the Free Trial which cannot set up a Party Finder, and there is no "Extreme" Roulette sadly so you do not have a large pool of people to draw from like the other roulette's in duty finder, only from mentor's using mentor roulette. In HW, Stormblood, & Shadowbringers; all of these you will find virtually 0 people doing any extremes other then to easily farm them at max level. Maybe one day the devs will add an Extreme roulette for those who want more of a challenge.