Frustrated with Mandatory Raid Queue Times

[azlus]

I'm a brand new player to FFXIV. I've been stuck in the Duty Finder queue for 2 hours trying to find a group for the mandatory 24-person Labyrinth of the Ancients raid. It's incredibly frustrating and wasting my time! This wait is really making me not want to play anymore.

Some articles suggest that DPS roles fill up faster in Duty Finder. Should I consider switching to a DPS class, even though I haven't made much progress on one?

Finally, I read somewhere that you need to complete at least 3 raids, which is quite daunting. Any suggestions for this or do I need to buy skip Main Scenario Progression from the online store?

[Moomba33]

Your server is on the Dynamis data center. This data center is relatively new and has a lower population than the other NA data centers.
I suggest using the Data Center visit function to travel to Aether. It is more populated and should have a quicker queue. https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...acentertravel/

DPS do generally have a quicker queue for 24 mans. You can unlock Red Mage in Ul'dah which starts at level 50 and try your luck with it as well. https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...t/3870f2d3cf2/

[azlus]

Your server is on the Dynamis data center. This data center is relatively new and has a lower population than the other NA data centers.
I suggest using the Data Center visit function to travel to Aether. It is more populated and should have a quicker queue. https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...acentertravel/

DPS do generally have a quicker queue for 24 mans. You can unlock Red Mage in Ul'dah which starts at level 50 and try your luck with it as well. https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...t/3870f2d3cf2/

Thank you so much! This helps a lot.

[Jeeqbit]

It is because you are on the Dynamis data center. This is a new data center, and therefore has a low population, so a lot of people travel away from it and queue on other data centers instead.

This wait is really making me not want to play anymore.

However, it is worth noting that wait times for instanced multiplayer content are rather common in an MMORPG, especially ones with role requirements. But the duty you mentioned is the most common 24-person duty, so it would normally be faster on other data centers.

The timing is also often a factor, because people play at the evening hours for their region mostly. So for example, if you queue during the night time for the NA region, most people in the NA region would be sleeping. It seems that you made your post during the evening hours though.

Some articles suggest that DPS roles fill up faster in Duty Finder. Should I consider switching to a DPS class, even though I haven't made much progress on one?

What queues faster depends on a number of factors: whether it's a direct queue vs a roulette, and the type of duty.

For roulettes: tanks and healers usually get the fastest queues.

For alliance raids and alliance raid roulettes, DPS are more likely to get faster queues because there are significantly more DPS spots - by far. 15 vs 6 healers vs 3 tanks.

For other specific duties, which you queue for in the MSQ, the role often doesn't have too much impact in my experience. It was almost 10 years ago now, but when I first went through the MSQ, I typically had to wait 40 minutes for each duty as a tank - despite that tanks are known for getting instant queues in roulettes.

I read somewhere that you need to complete at least 3 raids, which is quite daunting.

That is true. These raids did not used to be required, but the story is relevant later in the MSQ so it was made required.

Any suggestions for this or do I need to buy skip Main Scenario Progression from the online store?

That would be a rather extreme solution to just getting through these 3 raids. There are two other things you could try:

1. Visit another data center such as Aether and queue for it there.
2. Get 11 high-level friends to help you unsync it with the "Unrestricted" setting. It's easiest with 12 minimum, because 4 people need to stand on each pad. But there are ways to do it with less if they are very fast, just hard to pull off. Usually you can find friends via Party Finder recruitment, or the Novice Network, but 11 is quite a lot to find still.