You should ask the question again but expansion specific “What was your favourite and least favourite in HW, SB, ShB” and so on to see if the numbers hold up
Was just gonna say that. Like I love keeper of the lake. I can't make it higher reasonably, but I frigging love it. Same with Gubal. On the opposite side, the first Endwalker dungeon doesn't reach the depths, but if I did a top ten worst dungeons, it would include it. I don't know why. I just hated it. I leveled the trusts, so I did all the endwalker dungeons a bit more than normal.
@@fakechannelname8235 It does feel like he skipped alot of useful information and distinctions in the name of making the survey simpler to get more responses, but at a cost of having to do way more manual work. I assume you'd get more responses when all someone has to do to respond is reply to a tweet, but it also made the data alot less useful, and means alot of the conclusions here require some degree of assumption.
Ghimlyt Dark stan here: The reason it became my favorite was entirely within the setup. The whole game you've been gaining inch by inch on Garlemald and now they're done standing around and declare war on you and all the allies you've made. Negotiations have failed and now it's off to the frontlines to face the full might of the main villain (kind of sort of). They really nailed the ground war feeling.
I love all the dungeons that have lots of friendly NPCs running around fighting and doing stuff. It helps that those are usually the big setpieces. Ghimlyt Dark, Heroes' Gauntlet, Paglth'an. If I had to choose: favorite: Heroes' Gauntlet, least favorite: Stone Vigil Hard
I've been telling my sprout that stormblood was the expansion that they really nailed making you feel like u were in the middle of a battle, and this one was the one that drove it home for me. That first time I ran it I felt immersed in the fighting and it was so cool. SHB was when the dngn storytelling really stepped up a lot so I felt similarily about Amarot for similar reasons. But experience wise , those two really stand out for me.
I am among the Pharos Sirius-hating multitudes, I've had so many parties wipe to the first two bosses, while the last two get stomped instantly. It feels like such a whiplash in difficulty that just isn't fun. Plus,the level 50 skill sets just aren't fun yet.
Once, I actually lost count of how many times my party wiped on the first boss. I really wonder if they intentionally made the last bosses a cakewalk. The only two jobs I've enjoyed playing in Sirius are SAM and RDM, probably because they were designed to be played, functional and fun, at 50. Also, the only thing that I really like about Sirius is the music. Damn, it's just so perfect for the place.
Huh, thats the reason it ended up on my list for the best. It shows up so rarely anyways, that it’s still fun to watch parties get blown up by the Zu. I don’t think I have ended up in there synced for like a year now.
It really doesn't help that it comes up rarely enough that people usually forget what the mechanics even are. I know the first dude stacks some debuffs on you that like... Explode if you get too many stacks or something, and the second boss like... Spawns eggs that you... Either have to hit or not hit depending on what type they are? I'm really not sure, and even if by some miracle I got that right I don't remember, say, how to avoid the debuff, or what eggs to hit. It's got to the point where I just google the boss mechanics and explain them in chat because no one I've run the dungeon with has known what the bosses do either.
Most Favorite: Paglth'an - Simply because it evokes that nostalgic feeling of beast tribes and it's a subject that has been around since 1.0 (pretty much every beast tribe dungeon has this, Xelphatol was also very good). People would constantly theorize of how this place would be, and imo they absolutely nailed it in our own impression. Also the atmosphere is 10/10, it reminds me wow dungeons with all the dragon mounting and background fighting. Least Favorite: Halatali
05:58 nope, my favourite vote for aurum vale is not a troll. this dungeon is completeable in 8 mins, since it's not wall-to-wall blocked as most dungeons are. i agree it is harder than most dungeons due to various reasons, but it is utterly satisfying speeding through the dungeon. also a lot of ppl farmed blue mage kupo stones there (though i never did)
I like Aurum Vale. I always have. I liked when the cyclops didn't have the AoE markers. I like the piss floor and the steam valves that push you. I like the aggravating stuff because it feels good to not get got by it. It's also unique and from a time before every dungeon was the same and they started to get rid of unique mechanics in dungeons.
It is also a great dungeon to spam unsync for light farming in ARR relics. No loading screens, no interactive switches or keys or stuff to slow you down. Its just 1 single uninterrupted run from start to finish
@@MrsAikahime You are right. I'm one of the few people that liked cross-class skills in the job system because it makes the game unique and it has roots in the FF series. As a bard main, I miss being relied upon for support skills like MP regen and single-target defense buffs for things like tankbusters. I just feel like there's been a homogenization in the game and it's been affecting my enjoyment of the game.
@@moreapurva Sorry, I go for Toto-Rak for light farming. It's got all the stuff you said only there is no piss floor to mess you up. The rework of old dungeons really helped Toto-Rak by a country mile, the old one had shit floor to slow you down making the trek to the end take twenty minutes. They removed that and just made the entire dungeon a linear run from start to end, only requiring you to kill every enemy to open doors, which is easier to do unsynced. :) And the bosses don't have stack debuffs. Anyone remember the old Ichorous Ire? How you had to summon a bomb to blow it up to split it into tiny flans so you could hurt it? Yeah, they replaced that with a piss easy boss. XD
Both Aurum Vale and Dzemael Darkhold are not nearly as bad as people make them out to be. They're pretty good dungeons, really. They just aren't simple "turn your brain off, wall to wall pull down a straight hallway" affairs, which seems to be all anyone wants these days. Every run of those dungeons goes a little bit differently. Tanks have their own styles for how they pull, or how they group up mobs. A lot can go wrong if people aren't careful. The dungeon environment itself presents a lot of danger. It has character. It's memorable. If I were a dungeon, I think I'd rather be the infamous one that everyone dreads rather than some generic place no one remembers.
I always am happy when I get dungeon as "Swallows Compass" and "The Burn" because the music is so beautiful and the environment in the Burn is gorgeous. Then I cry when I get level 16-30 dungeons. The rest I do not mind.
It really shows how different things 'favorite' can mean. For me it would be based on Bosses and next up theming/music but you brought up a whole lot of people judging heavily by wall-to-wall experiences, which I did not care about at all
While I understand the negativity towards Aurum, I personally like that dungeon. It's one of the shorter ones in the game, is pretty unique with its environmental hazards, and I get a kick out of people still wiping to it every once in awhile. My personal worst dungeon is definitely pre-patch Brayflox Longstop. That dungeon was...so...insanely long. I always dozed off during it. Favorite dungeon...I'm not really sure. Had to edit this because after watching, I was reminded of my favorite dungeon theme-wise. The Qitana Ravel. Love the theme so much, and I played through it as much as possible to get all of the glamour. The bosses were very interesting to fight as well, and the music was chef's kiss.
I like aspects of Aurum. The environmental stuff and the fruit are good things you need to think about and skirting around things instead of always just going whole hog killing everything is a fun change of pace. Its one of the first dungeons that you need to do something with and not just attack/heal and avoid the orange. BUT it is going to stay at the top of my least favorite list because something with that dungeon always makes my game crash!
@@zillahstar I guess it'd be Dragoon, but really I play all classes at this point. Dragoon, Samurai, and Reaper are my three favorites. Love melee dpsing.
Favorite - The Heroes' Gauntlet. Doesn't get old for me, love the world-tour-style layout of the dungeon, the music being a medley of the various locale themes, the bosses aren't boring, optional dungeon mechanics that don't ruin the experience if the party should fail to take advantage of them, and the NPC allies helping out all makes for a fantastic experience. Least Favorite - Aurum Vale. Everyone knows why.
ARR having the most votes just speaks to the character of older dungeons. Like them or dislike them, they are memorable. I can't remember the majority of hallway dungeons from later expansions and if I do it's usually because of the bosses or music, not the dungeon itself.
All ARR dungeons (ignoring the revamp ones simplifying layout) have such a organic design to their layouts. Where their dungeons for later expansions, layout is straightforward boring path from start to finish. Even FF16 dungeons sadly reflect this too
ARR Dungeons actually make me put more thought into what is going on, because if you fail a mechanic, you tend to just fail outright. When I tank I hope that I get 60, 70, 80, or 90, dungeons in the roulette. Because I know th e real challenge are level 50 hard mode dungeons where they actually punish you for doing something wrong. 90 dungeons I can sleep through. And I do enjoy them because of that. I think i'd rather have things be a little frustrating or stressful than a completely boring slog.
@@HyouVizer This just in, Dawntrail's dungeons just leaked. Here's how they look: *Giant tunnel corridor* *Trash pack 1* *Trash pack 2* *mini boss* *Trash pack 3* *Trash pack 4* *Mini Boss 2* *Trash pack 5* *Trash pack 6* *Final Boss (complete with your eyes closed)* Welcome for the spoilers
@@StormierNik You also have to remember that ARR dungeons dont give you full access to your kit either. This is why the most hated one is also the one with multiple classes that don't have aoe attacks, aoe heals and has multiple enviromental hazards.
Favourite is Twinning Least favourite Hullbreaker Island You gotta do this for Trials, normal raids, alliance raid as well. This was super interesting!
Mt. Gulg is definitely the peak of regular dungeons. The first and third wall-to-wall pack pulls are some of the most exciting moments in casual content and the spectacle is almost unmatched as well with the combination of music, voice acting, visuals, and its role in the story.
I fucking love Pharos Sirius, the atmosphere is chilling and I actually like the fact that it's mechanically difficult for ARR standards. A Light in the Storm is also by far one of my favorite tracks in the game.
Agreed, but whats with the dragon boss thrown right before final boss randomly? Felt so out of place lol. Also makes it the only dungeon i think to have 4 bosses instead of usual 3 🤔
I think it would be cool to see a unreal effect done to dungeons. Them picking older dungeons to bring up, maybe nothing crazy to use dev time on but would be nice to see how ppl will react to to these older dungeons with a full kit.
They dont even have to up the difficulty. just give us all unlocked skills in all of the content. i get that some skills just aren´t made for a level 20 boss. just give us a hard damage nerf if we are 50 levels above the minimum level req. and let people play their whole rotation. i think that would make old dungeons and primal much more fun already. also newer players might get interested in certain jobs just because of a skill they see from a higher level player.
I don’t really see the point tbh. There isn’t really that much of a difference between stone vigil and like a level 90 dungeon in difficulty even now, they are both pretty effortless. I mean stone vigil wall to wall is arguably the single hardest msq conent in the game to wall to wall heal, so thats something I guess. The experience hasn’t really changed much between now and then. If anything it would be easier because we have more buttons to deal with things, like just having invulnerabilities on all tanks would make w2w a lot easier than it already is. Given how much time it seems to take them to add these things, I’d much rather they used it on something more than a novelty, like a savage turn or something, one of the main reasons they do unreal is to allow people to do content they wouldn’t normally be able to find a group for easily after all, and dungeons don’t exactly have a lack of people willing to run them currently.
My favorite might actually be the Aetherfont just for the music. The opening really brings to life the cold, crisp air of the northern empty. Always makes for a chill dungeon run. I was so excited when I got the music roll to play in my house.
Aurum Vale is an easy pick simply because it has SO MUCH going against it: 1. Level Sync'd to 49, so none of the juicy level 50 abilities. 2. Highly dangerous ground effects. Not only is this the first time they are encountered in the game (outside of the Heavy effect in Toto-Rak), but the puddles deal TONS of damage. Anyone for whom FF14 is their first MMO is not going to know how to deal with this stuff, and it's never taught anywhere in the game prior to this. 3. Lots of mobs with almost no restrictions on wall-to-wall pulls. Unlike more modern dungeons, where you typically only have 2, maybe 3 packs of trash mobs per pull, AV consistently has a larger number. This means *anyone* being inexperienced can be bad for the whole group if too much is pulled: tanks run out of cooldowns, healers don't have all the tools to keep up large amounts of heals, DPS can't kill enough mobs fast enough to slow the pressue. 4. All of the above combined with it being a relatively low-level dungeon (for the game as it currently is) means newer players rarely have had the time to learn all of the ins and outs of the game yet - especially when, as noted above, things are explicitly NOT taught to them at any earlier point, such as the gold pools. Anyone going into the dungeon - particularly tanks and healers - with lower-level gear makes this one of the first really big pain points of the game. It's one of the earliest things to point to in FF14 and say, "THIS is why we need a Hall of the Intermediate or somesuch."
Great video Happs! My personal fav is The Burn and my least favorite is The Sunken Temple of Qarn. By expansion my favs are -> Lost City of Amdapor, Great Gubal Library (HARD), The Burn, Amaurot, and Ktisis Hyperboreia. Least favs are -> Sunken Temple of Qarn, Nearreap, Shisui of the Violet Tides, Matoya's Relict and The Tower of Zot.
Here's by expansion: ARR: Favorite is probably Snowcloak, least favorite is Pharos Sirius. Heavensward: Favorite is Sohr Khai, least favorite (I haven't done hardly any of the optional ones) is the Dusk Vigil. Stormblood: Favorite is The Ghimlyt Dark, least favorite is the Sirensong Sea (really sucks that there's no lvl 63 MSQ dungeon, and I still haven't unlocked Shisui). Shadowbringers: Favorite is Mt. Gulg. So much fun to heal and tank in wall to wall pulls, and most DPS jobs have a satisfactory rotation at that point. Least favorite is Dohn Mheg. Endwalker: Favorite is Ktisis Hyperboreia. One of the few dungeons that feels fresh even when doing dungeon spam for leveling, and the music and aesthetic are incredible. Least favorite is the Tower of Babil. It always feels like leveling takes forever from 81-87, and this is the worst of itself, the Tower of Zot, and Vanaspati, in my opinion.
A lot of the ARR postgame dungeons aren’t even run very often. A lot of newer players haven’t even played them at all because they’re completely optional and only important if you’re a super completionist/lore junkie/want to get a Zodiac (ARR) weapon.
Aurum vale is a dungeon that is entirely dependant on how how much your tank knows, if they’ve been around for a while you’ll just blaze through have an easy time. Darkhold is always awful no matter what, but aurum vale beats it because its the meme pick
@@ShitOwl That's... what he's talking about. An experienced tank *doesn't* dick around with all the mobs in the first room. As a party, you can skip most of them by hugging the wall and kiting into the first boss arena.
@@Princess_Ruto ... thats not the point which is this if you pull everything and i do mean everything sage's and scholars healing won't be able to keep up at that level then less u have a war since they already have holmgang there
Aurum Vale also dependent on not getting jerks in your party. I ran Aurum Vale once as a tank, and a DPS would constantly run ahead of the party and get himself killed, and whenever I would try to make a beeline for the boss room and avoid enemies, this DPS would run around to all the enemies, trigger then, and then pull them to the rest of the group.
I think Aurum Vale gets it rough primarily because people are so familiar with it as an early dungeon that appears very often in roulettes for leveling and MSQ. It's not particularly taxing or long. Stone Vigil(hard) absolutely deserves its place though for the turtle boss and it's an optional dungeon which means many players may have skipped it entirely. As for favorite I'd probably go with Aloalo Island with Mount Rokkon as a close 2nd. Both absolutely beautiful but Matsya gets Aloalo the nod.
I've got one kind of hot take for ya: My favorite dungeon in all of FFXIV is Akadaemia Anyder. That's not one you hear every day, right? lol. So why do I love it so much? Well, for starters, the music is amazing. Yes, I know, it's just some fun jazzy piano thing, but it SLAPS. I actually still have the track on my playlist in my personal house, no joke. Second, the pulls you could do in that dungeon could go from zzzzz, to 'I'm awake', to 'HELL YEAH NOW WE'RE COOKIN' depending on the boldness and bravery of the tank you have, and I feel like that's something that's sort of being erased with more recent dungeons. Third, the bosses are relatively unique and entertaining, (at least, even though they're not incredibly difficult), and the Amaurotian theming of the dungeon is scenic and pretty to wander through. There, that's my hot take. The other is predictable: A lot of ARR dungeons are un-fun to say the least, but nothing makes me hover over the 'leave duty' button quite like Aurum Vale in roulette.
Mt. Gulg is not my favorite dungeon, but it does have one of my favorite bosses in it: the cube with the nine faces on it. I love bosses with puzzle mechanics because it makes it much more interesting to do the mechanics than simply "don't step in the red puddle". I also like the final boss in it. As for my picks, I'd say my favorite would be Smileton (it's also the only level 90 dungeon I can consistently do well in -- for some reason I'm just having trouble with the bosses in the other dungeons). Plus, the music is fun and more exposure to Loporrits is always a blast. My least favorite would probably be Amaurot. I know people love it for emotional reasons, and it was fine for that when you're running it the first time. But I never look forward to having to run it again and I always dread possibly getting it in the 50/60/70/80 roulette. It's just so difficult that while I understand the difficulty for the first run, the difficulty for repeated runs makes it just no fun to go through again.
Aurum Vale is fun! I loved it cause it was the first time that newbies had to keep an eye out for patrols or a wipe was a sure thing. When someone was leveling and people would ask if they can let the eggs spawn. DPS complaining they died from nothing then explain the floor is posionous. If it was a first time for the whole group it was a shit show but after your first painful one it just becomes a fun place to visit cause you know what not to do now. Also back in the day when you had to tell melee newbies "If the cyclops is praying run or we'll be praying for you to rest in peace"
Thanks for an awesome video, Haps! I loved the look at what dungeons the community as a whole loved. I am very glad that Ghymlit got such a high ranking; I was really happy to see that, when FFXIV went for a 'this is gritty war' theme for the end of Stormblood patch content, they really went for it.
My favorite dungeon in the game has to be Amaurot, not a place I see often, but it's such a memorable dungeon for many reasons. My least Favorite is the Lunar Subterrane in EndWalker. It feels like a bait and switch dungeon from what I was hoping to see from a place directly from FF4 to suddenly end up as not Lunar Subterrane part way through, that, and it's starting to become increasingly annoying how large they are making the trash mobs, because I can't see myself anymore as a tank outside the bosses
Yooo Ghimlyt gang rise up! Honestly I don't feel incredibly strongly about dungeons. I used to not remember Ghimlyt AT ALL but after using it to grind for I think one of the moogle tome events or one of the relic steps I grew to love how it tried to implement a more epic feel with bringing in all the NPCs and making them actually do things, especially with the randomness involved in, say, who performs the LB3 on the final armor. I don't know if it's 100% my favorite but it's definitely more on the positive side now and grows on me more over time. As for most hated, I would have said old Copperbell for being a giant slog of pointless time-wasting encounters or old Toto'Rak purely for how many runs of it I did with the GC squad when leveling all my jobs to 50, but those have both been changed to less interesting but less annoying versions. Honestly ARR dungeon design was so experimental that part of me can't bring myself to actually hate those dungeons because at least they were trying something different and I find that I value texture more and more over time. So maybe without digging through I can't pick a least favorite dungeon. If I do Ill come back and edit this post with one.
Dead Ends is my all time fav. No hesitation. The narrative voice in this dungeon is absolutely PERFECT. The atmosphere is so, so good. Give me nerd chills. Every.Single.Time. Least fav... I would say Dzemael. Frogs PTSD from the old version of it. But also random small rocks breaking LOS, weird first boss, non-interesting second.
Least Favorite: Aurum Vale Most Favorite: The Tower of Babil Aurum Vale is the only dungeon in this game that makes me audibly groan when I get it in rouls. Its just a combination of it being a low level dungeon (severely lacking in skills for most jobs), and that more often than not you're pulling through people who don't know or understands the dangers of the dungeon (poisons, acid puddles etc.). The Tower of Babil, on the other hand, is a joy in rouls. Most jobs have a decent set of skills available, the music is great, the idea of finally storming the imperial palace is awesome, and that final boss is an epic fight.
Unironically, Stone Vigil Hard to me is a really good dungeon. It introduces a mechanic where a boss ignores all aggro/enmity and is scripted. It's definitely not my favorite, of course. If I have to pick favorites... ARR: Keeper of the Lake / Amdapor Keep (Hard) HW: Gubal (Hard) / Xelphatol SB: Fractal Continuum (Hard) ShB: Amaurot EdW: Lapis Manalis Note that Xelphatol was changed when they added Duty Support. The balloons in the last area don't go back for more trash anymore
I hadn’t really thought about it before, but Ghimlyt Dark may actually be my favorite dungeon too. It’s an epic culmination of our journey so far where all our allies join to help us, and it’s an exciting look towards the start of Shadowbringers and even Endwalker, where we really start bringing the war to Garlemald. Least favorite is easily Aurum Vale. I just have so many bad memories of trying to heal in there while I was still trying to figure out what I was doing as a newbie white mage 10 years ago.
I generally judge by bosses, story, and music. Wall to wall or nonlinearity/linearity doesn't factor for me, so my fav overall is probably something like The Twinning or Dead Ends. By expansion: ARR - Wanderer's Palace/Lost City of Amdapor; HW - Dusk Vigil/Antitower; SB - The Burn (Sirensong Sea also because of the music); ShB - Twinning/Holminster Switch (shoutout to Matoya's Relict and Pagl'than); EW - Dead Ends (shoutout to Fell Court and Alzadaal).
Overall: Favourite: Swallow's Compass The music, the aesthetic, it's all gorgeous. Least Favourite: Dzemael Darkhold If the tank is new, the whole thing is physically painful to get through. By Expansion: ARR: F: Snowcloak (mostly because of The Warrens) LF: Dzemael (already said above) HW: F: Xelphatol (I just think its neat) LF: ARF (so... long...) SB: F: Swallow's Compass (already said above) LF: Fractal Continuum Hard (tired of Allagan BS already by this point) ShB: F: The Twinning (the music, the story, the memes) LF: Malikah's Well (just a bit underwhelming compared to the rest) EW: F: Tower of Babil (mostly because of Anima) LF: Tower of Zot (only cause I like the other dungeons more, I actually do LIKE Zot)
My Favorite: Gimmlyt Dark My Least Favorite - Halatali- all 3 bosses are boring. First one just sits there, 2nd and 3rd have invincibilty phases. Plus its really annoying if you get to the end and forgot to pull one of the chains
I actually REALLY love aurum vale, it's easily in my top 5 favorites. I think it gets way too much hate. It had a very interesting aesthetic, it had the famous marlboro which for long time final fantasy fans have grown to be afraid of these in random encounters. The mechanics were fairly interesting and had a good level of accountability. Often times i remember explaining how bosses worked if we did wipe, but i really really enjoyed this place.
Favourite - Brayflox HM. I adored it when it released and it was where I learned to wall-to-wall pull. It was a rewarding jump in difficulty that I have fond memories of but sadly 10 years on, wall-to-wall pulling in most dungeons feels bland and easy since the dungeons are designed/gated around it. I loved Brayflox because you could customise your pulls a little. Plus the gobbies are so cute. Last boss was also great. Timing dps against him so you could skip a phase while farming for your relic. Good memories. Least favourite - By far - Old Toto Rak. THE SLOW SLUDGE. I normally get really sad when they change old content because it feels like it loses a part of its design or its challenge, but I'm so glad the sludge is gone. I'll never have to suffer it again in levelling roulette. I realise both of my votes are for ARR so for clarifying context, I'm not a newbie or someone who quit. I'm a long time player who has completed Endwalker and one Ultimate. Amaurot and Dead Ends are close choices for fave dungeons as I love the story aspects and I was really wowed when I first completed them, but I have too many fond memories of Brayflox. Tbh a lot of my fondest memories come from overcoming challenges. Brayflox for dungeons, Titan Extreme during ARR for Trials and E5S for Savages (not a hard one but my first savage clear with a static. I did clear a few Coils back in the day but I don't have fond memories there). The Main Story is of course fantastic but overcoming challenges creates my own personal story/journey with the game. It makes me sad that a lot of players miss out on this aspect due to fear of failure. But I also understand. It took my friend encouraging me to try Savage fights in Shadowbringers for me to see that I was a better player than i creditted myself for. Which started me on my journey to my TEA clear. One of my proudest and fondest memories in my gaming life. Anyway that was a surprise walk down memory lane with some food for thought. Nice video Haps!
This was a really cool idea for a video. It was reminiscent of the sort of video that I loved seeing from another creator who has currently burned out on the game and is making other content that I'm not personally interested in but I wish them well all the same. It's just always really fun to see the community directly contribute to fun and engaging content that sparks healthy conversations about a game. If you're possibly looking to do something similar in the future, I'd personally love to see an up to date feeler on what jobs people enjoy playing right now and/or what jobs they are looking forward to playing in Dawntrail. The first idea could easily be done now but the latter idea might be more interesting once we've seen more information about the jobs in Dawntrail but before the actual expansion drops so that the results could be compared to see if simply seeing the jobs in action in the new expansion greatly changes how people feel about them or if they are more the ride or die types that stick to what they like.
can we do this for trials next? this was a fun watch. Also favorite dungeon is the one where you're training with the limsa and the final boss is mistbeard (don't remember the name) and least favorite is dzemael.
Favourite: Dead Ends. Story-wise, music-wise, the narration, and honestly the fights as well. Every time I roll it in roulettes I turn off anything I'm watching in the background, make sure I have BGM on and just relive the experience. I'm genuinely surprised so many people liked Smileton though, sure the music is great but that and the tiny melee uptime spot you can get in the last fight are the only two things I like about it. I wonder if it has something to do with getting it about 50% of the time I do a 90 roulette and just being over it at this point? Least Favourite: Stone Vigil Hard suffers a lot for that middle turtle boss tbh, I don't think I could pick anything other than that because if you get in there with a group that doesn't know how to do it, and isn't receptive to feedback... it gets rough
Think Haukke and Ghymlyt did well on atmosphere/theme. Haukke is timeless, a big surprise back in ARR to walk into the haunted mansion themed dungeon. Ghymlyt basically delivers what SB should've been an grey all-out war between the Alliance and Empire. Plus at 70, everyone has most of their key abilities. Also the music and opening cinematic are hype. I'm suprised Paghltan didn't do well for the same reason. I love how open the dungeon looks, the whole ongoing battle atmosphere, the cameos from npcs and its bgm is a remix of my all time favorite track from ARR. I think the HW dungeons lost some of their flair after the skill pruning and everything is mostly piss poor easy.
Mr. Happy, thank you for going the extra mile and do such a video because it was a lot of work. Most Disliked Dungeon - Stone Vigil (Hard) The reason why i hate this the most is because of the second boss, not just because it's a time sink but also doing it with Blue solo was a absolute pain. Also if you do this with random people you always have a hard time to communicate what to do during the second boss fight. I had so many healers that forgot to heal during this fight and i can't blame them for that. Most Liked Dungeon - The Burn Visually i like the last part, the open area with the white sand and the gigantic sand worm corps. The sheer endless dunes and clear blue sky in contrast with the white sand, you really got a feeling of solitude but also peace. I also like it to play that as a healer because still to this day, the last boss in this dungeons had the most wipes of all the dungeons bosses. Because with people who do it the first time, the mechanics ar ekinda tricky and me playing healer is a extra step that i have to manage and it challenges me.
My favourite Dungeon is probably Holminster Switch. It's a great tonesetter for ShB and tells you what is at stake, seeing people instantly turn into Sin Eaters and killing Tesleen as a boss. I love the music because not only does it remind me of music from old MMOs I've played, it gives the feeling of dread and urgency with the piano drop at the end representing a small glimmer of hope for this world. The only bad part about this dungeon is the third set of trash pulls with the Sin Eater Coccoons spawning a small set one by one instead of one big wall2wall. It makes the dungeon a bit longer.
As an Amal'jaa stan, I love the Sil'Dih Subterrane so much. It was so intriguing to not only discover the past of the country of Thanalan, but, also how intertwined all of the races that lived there once were, until Balah'Dia ruined everything. #JusticeForAmal'jaa My least favorite dungeon is definitely Haukke Manor (Hard), if for no reason than Halicarnassus. An unresponsive party can make what is an okay dungeon with neat story stuff into just an utter slog of trying to slow down DPS races.
Overall: Zot is my favorite. Cutters Cry is my least. Although as a disclaimer, I haven't played Cutter's Cry since they reworked the ARR dungeons, so maybe I hate it less now. But I despise the old version. By expansion- ARR: Keeper of the Lake+, Cutter's- HW: GG Library+, Sohm Al- SB: Drowned City+, S.M.Arbor (H)- ShB: H.Gauntlet+, Grand Cosmos- EW: Zot+, Alzadaal's- The by expansion choices are based on how happy/annoyed I am to get them in a roulette. Otherwise it would be tough for me to rank favorites between the dungeon itself and the story around it.
You should definitely do one for raids/trials. Though you should probably split them between normal and savage/extreme, and maybe alliance raids being a separate category
I just finished a run of ARR and it's weird to say but the nostalgia for old Praetorium makes it easily my favorite ARR dungeon. I had so many good times in party chat back during the 8 man no skip cutscenes.
Least favorite: Malikah's Well, but I guess that's just because I had to run it approximately 3127432167878 times to level both trusts and my own jobs. Most favorite: Smileton, the atmosphere and music just bring a smile to my face every time I get it in roulette. Honorable mention: Fell Court. I get why people hate this one, but I ran it so much as SAM that I have the entire dungeon planned out to the GCD. It feels so great to burn through that place in 10 minutes when everyone is hitting their peak.
Lost City of Amdapor is my least favorite thanks to the final boss's mechanic of matching the door symbols to dodge one of their attacks. It'd be fine if the symbols stayed over the doors longer, imo. Favorite is tough, but I'm gonna have to go with Aitiascope. Basically with the emotional weight of the characters who died along the journey are there to help us is what puts it above others for me. Honorable mentions would be Heroes' Gaunlet(a send off to Shadowbringers and all the areas and people we met), Kugane Castle(loved the aesthetic) , and Temple of the Fist(I'm a mnk main) Dishonorable mentions are Aurum Vale(it'd be fine if it wasn't for the puddles and having to stop mid-rotation to get rid of a debuff by eating fruit) and Bardam's Mettle(I hate the mid-boss that's just "do mechanics")
dzemael darkhold has the best pull of ARR, and then the dungeon goes bad. you can pull from spawn all the way to the last crystal before the first boss and murder everything while getting extra mit from the crystal and its awesome
Favorite, The twinning, I shouldn't have to explain that. Least favorite, Malika's Well. I often just kinda forget that it's there. It's surrounded by two of my favorites, and just manages to be empty.
I loved the depth and the analysis of it. It is quite a pride and joy to see the result of data gathering to the point where you can use it as a way to show how far we've come as players after playing this game, some longer than others. (But to point something out...)I think in a way Ghimlyt was presented to us at the time versus now is when you see the parallels of war. I remember Zepla talking about it in a video about how Ghimlyt resonates with her in a way now she saw herself fleeing from Ukraine to get to the U.S. It was really frightening and sad at the same time. Don't get me wrong, but we know FF does not shy away from the real world stuff and its atrocities and the fact that Ghimlyt in a way presented us a trench like battlefield between Garlemald and the five nations that stood united made it feel more realistic...but I must digress from here. There were so many good and bad dungeons throughout the expansion that for me to pick them is hard. Though I suppose my least was none other than Pharos Normal and my most favorite was Anyder. Something about the last part of that dungeon especially in the story that we get to not only understand a little more a certain Ascian, but do we get a small introduction of the "great convocation of Venat" (if you know, you know).
I feel like Castrum and Prae often get neglected because people don't really think of them as "dungeons" even if they are, because of how they are tied to their own unique roulette. So I think they probably just escaped a lot of people's minds. I also think certain dungeons like The Twinning would have gotten a lot more votes if they weren't optional, since they are competing against dungeons that everyone has to do.
Paglth'an is my favorite dungeon for multiple reasons. Firstly it's the last dungeon before Endwalker, meaning there was the whole set up towards Endwalker with it. I remember doing it almost daily (along with Matoya's Relict) through expert roulette while waiting for Endwalker to release and I have very fond memories of doing so. Another reason is the bosses. They're not hard but they give a good enough challenge. The last boss being Lunar Bahamut and having Tiamat help us right before we fight it is the cherry on top. I also really like it's music, it's catchy. Also riding wyverns towards the last area of the dungeon while looking out on the large plains is really cool. My least favorite dungeon is Great Gubal Library (Normal). I don't think it's a bad dungeon by any means. Honestly it's a good dungeon. I like the final boss. But I get this dungeon ALL THE TIME in leveling roulette and I'm so tired of doing it. I'd rather do any other dungeon.
Ghymlit didn’t surprise me at all! As someone who absolutely loves the “culmination of plot dungeons,” Ghymlit is up there with Amaurot and Dead Ends for me. And I think for a lot of people! It’s dark and gloomy but story-wise it’s complemented by some amazing patch content, and I love getting it in roulettes! I find it extremely immersive and I think that’s why it got so many positive votes.
I will say though, my favorite dungeon. It’s a hard choice but I think Doma Castle. A lot of it has to do with the music (still one of my favorite tracks in the game,) but as I said above it is also has a lot of story elements! I just get hype whenever I spawn into Doma Castle in roulettes. Least favorite… I’m gonna be cliche and say Aurum Vale lol. I have a lot of traumatizing memories from back in ARR, regarding that dungeon. And imo it doesn’t have enough redeeming qualities to combat how awkward and difficult the pulls are for new players! Even the aesthetic is kinda rough, and the music isn’t anything super special. Making it the dungeon I go “oh no not this one!” for the most. At least a lot of the later dungeons I can also enjoy the visuals and music, even if I don’t love the pulls or boss mechanics… 😅
speed runners love ARR dungeons, you can do wall to boss pulls. I can run Aurum Vale in 10min or less with a good group of experienced players, and I have more fun with that then some of the more current well made dungeons.
I think the design and not the fodder matter when it comes to favorite. Mr. Gulg’s design is one of favorite leveling dungeons. Going from the mountain arm to the top of the pure white areas. Amaurot is my favorite. The story of Shadowbringers is great.
Favorite per expansion: Copperbell Mines (hard), The Vault, Sirensong Sea, The Qitana Ravel, The Tower of Zot Honorable mentions (3 per expansion): Haukke Manor, The Sunken Temple of Qarn (hard), Snowcloak, The Great Gubal Library (hard), Sohm Al (hard), Saint Mocianne's Arboretum, Doma Castle, The Burn, The Temple of the Fist, Holminster Switch, The Grand Cosmos, Pagl'than, The Tower of Bab-il, Vanaspati, The Stigma Dreamscape Least favorite per expansion: Cutter's Cry, Xelphatol, Saint Mocianne's Arboretum (hard), Dohn Mheg, The Aitiascope
Great video, I think you could refine the method for a more precise result (since you're basically doing science). For example, the bias here is "most/least", but maybe a lot of people had Bardam or Aurum Vale as a top 5 or top 10, which skews the result about overall appreciation of dungeons since these preferences weren't voiced in this analysis. Nonetheless, cool idea, hope you'll get even more interesting results ! As for me : Most liked : The Burn, the music, the aesthetic, the final boss, I love it. Least liked : Stone Vigil HM. In itself it's not that bad, but the clunkyness of Cuca Fera brings it down several notches for me
I don't hate or love Aurum Vale. Pre-rework Thousand Maws with the slow slime and exploding eggs was always my most hated. Generally over all I have positive memories of ARR dungeons because it was the last time we had "adventure" dungeons that we just did because they were there rather than "a thing in the story" dungeons.
Fave dungeon is Sohm Al. Honestly, I'm not a fan of most dungeons gameplay-wise, so it's really just the vibes that make or break them for me, and climbing a dragon mountain with imo the most majestic ost in the background really does it for me. The glam from there, especially the pants and chest pieces are pretty cool and unique too, I hope they get reused in DT as dungeon or crafting gear, and if not, then I hope it won't take long for graphics update to cover them. Honorable mention: Wanderer's Palace HM. Really like the vibes here: Tonberry resuce mission with heroic ost, but it loses a bit on the setting looking mid and puke green, og Palace looked nicer. Least fave is Vanaspati. Most lvling dungeons from ShB onwards drag a lot if dps's not on point, and I feel it the most in Vanaspati. Also last boss is a sprout killer, and if said sprout is a healrt, it can lead to a horrid wipefest. This dungeon is what convinced me to go SMN for Astrope farm, and I still had one wipe there, just cause healer couldn't stay up for one sec. More bad than good experiences all around in that place. Dishonorable mention: Castrum Meridianum after rework. It takes too long for how unengaging ARR combat is. At least stuff in Toto-rak, or Aurum, Dzemael etc. dies quickly.
You can tell how the AV will go by seeing if the tank zooms off into the middle of the first room and then dies in 10 seconds. I think that was a key memory for a lot of healers in ARR era.
My most favorite: Haukke Manor - this dungeon gives the team so much agency. Want to go fast, can do! Want to take it slow, can do! Nooks and crannies to find or skip. Stunnable bosses and the last boss is very intuitive with some cool strats. My least favorite: Haukke Manor Hard - How do you take one of the most open dungeons and make it a boring hallway? The bosses have some cool mechanics but the last boss has a huge difficulty spike if you don't take care (and separate) the mobs. Most PUGs are not going to know how to manage this (either veterans or sprouts) and it leads to some cringe inducing plays.
i'm guessing proooooobably moreso because of stuff like bad tanks or dps positioning themselves poorly causes the first room to be fully pulled, which is like 95% of the time a wipe
Im surprised people dont like Dzemael. The buffs really speed up the process and allow you to do a big pull, plus the gear is nice. The fact that people also dont like Cutter's Cry is sort of baffling for me too, the bosses arent too hard, and you can skip adds between the first and second boss enitrely, which is a big plus in my book.
Probably fave dungeon in any of the expansions, for me, is Ktisis Hyperborea. Everytime I get it in Roulette, I get so hyped up. Probably most disliked dungeon? Probably Halitali (Hard) tbh.
It doesn't surprise me that Aurum Vale has a few positive votes. Its far more memorable than alot of other dungeons in general, and the first boss fight is the first fight in the game that requires you to think about actual tactics, which i appreciate as a training tool for future dungeons (making people realize they cant just ignore mechanics, like they can in earlier dungeons). Its certainly interesting seeing how personal biases impacted not only your expectation of what would win, but how\what was tested. Theres a few instances of information that was a known about but not tested for because you didn't want it to be too complicated, while knowing this would be a data driven video (and as a result more information would always be better). Unfortunately it seems like you were looking for a minimum viable results, rather than accurate ones. As an example, Choosing not to separate between ARR old and new dungeons was a misstep imo. Alot of the ARR dungeons were complicated prior to Endwalker but are basically straight runs now, and generally dramatically shorter, so they likely have different scores for different people compared to their original layouts. I'd expect people that like mechanics to be happier with ARR old versions, and players that just want quick runs to prefer new versions, but because there's no distinction we don't actually know.
Not even close to related but seeing the old Happy at the bottom and seeing how far he’s come is inspiring me to start going to the gym again!!! Keep up the good work Haps!
Absolutely loved Mount Rokkon. Some serious work went into it, and I'm sad I'll never see it in roulettes. Least favourite is probably Halatali; It's exceptionally early and it's even more awkward than the somewhat streamlined Copperbell and Totorak.
Id still say thousand maws and stone vigil nm are my fav. Not because of the dungeon itself, but because of the level. At 26 youd get your first combo finisher and at 40 most jobs got their full identity. Thats for ARR though
Probably the best dungeon for me would be brayfox’s longstop because I can pull all the trash and the boss at the same time, and that’s just super fun. In terms of actual design, most of them are near identical reskins, so its hard to choose, but maybe phaos sirius, that one with the tonberry stalker or the tam tara deepcroft. I don’t think its a coincidence those are all in ARR. shoutout to that dungeon where you fight midgardsormr or that one where you fought Hraesvelgr on the platforms, those were fun and would have made it on the list before they blandified them. I don’t think dungeons are exactly Ff14’s strong suit currently if you couldn’t tell. Edit: oh yeah, Aumarot gets on the list for its decently cool bosses, and how genuinely chilling of an experience it was, dead ends wishes it was half as interesting of a final dungeon as Aumarot is.
If you ever attempt a poll/experiment like this again, I would recommend just setting up a Google form or a Strawpoll. You have a lot of upfront work in setting up the form, but in exchange you save a ton more time since you don't have to manually aggregate poll results.
Sohm Al (hard) 100% for me, the dungeon itself is pretty alright but the soundtrack is nutty, playing the 1.0 thanalan battle theme as the overall dungeon theme, with Persistance for the mini bosses and ending with Revenge Twofold is just perfect.
Favorite: Temple of the Fist I've been a monk main since ARR, so I was incredibly excited for this dungeon from the moment I found out it existed. Not only do I love the theme, but it has two of my favorite bosses ever (the twin coeurls and Ivon). Barely passes The Vault, which was a homerun on basically every metric. Least Favorite: Neverreap It's really not that bad a dungeon, but doing this repeatedly when 3.0 dropped left such a bad taste in my mouth that I can't help but loathe it to this day.
I never voted on this poll, but when it comes to Endwalker, I think maybe there might be some influence by the experience doing a dungeon within a trust. And Dohn Mheg can be a pain in the ass, simply because I have taken a stream on that second boss, only to have one of my lovely trust members come to where I am, forcing me to go to another one at a point it's too damn late. Usually it doesn't matter, but depending on which job I am on, that can cut it close with being able to get the boss down before it gets just huge and clobbers me. I actually like that dungeon, but in a trust if I just want to get through it, that boss can make it more interesting than it might otherwise be.
Autumn vale is pain. I hated it when I first ran, I hated it when my wife was leveling, I hated it when it came up in roulette. Part of it is it's awkward for dragoon at that level with how some of the skills have moved since when I started in heavensward, but I just don't find it fun. Favorite...honestly my mind first clicks to ghimlyt dark. I really enjoyed it when it came out, the progression of these are the war machines that used to be bosses and now are trash, I love the animatronics on display with all your allies there in the battle with you. It's a fun ride, and I just enjoy it when it comes up for me.
I'd almost want to see just a giant survey poll with "How would you feel about getting this dungeon in a roulette?" with 3 or maybe 5 options spanning negative to positive. Maybe copy the same question with Music, visuals, story, and complete package. It would be interesting to see if you could derive how important those other elements are based on how people rated the complete packages vs the individual metrics. FWIW, I don't think this would be too bad to make in google forms, if memory serves - I could probably make something in forms if you wanted at some point.
Broooo so much work. You should have used a Google Forms with a dropdown list with all the dungeons names. One for the favourite and then a copy for the least favourite, then export the results.
I loved Aurum Vale because when I was playing through in late Stormbringers it was one of the few dungeons that was actually challenging. I don't know if I really dislike 95% of FFXIV dungeons, but I just nothing nearly all of them. Maybe 1 boss is memorable, but nothing beyond that, which I consider far worse than if it's trying in any regards.
Least: Tossup between Stone Vigil (Hard) and Haukke (Hard) because of the gimmickyness of the 2nd and 3rd bosses respectively. SV is probably my pick though because that one is just straight up tediously designed, while Haukke feels more like it's just broken due to potency numbers having climbed. Most: The vistas of the Aetherfont. Some of them definitely feel dated due to the age of the game graphics, but they felt like they really tried to give it a grand vibe that resonates well with me. I like snow and blue magic.
This will be along one and I'll do it by expansion: ARR. Hate: Dzemael. Aurum Vale is hard, but the hardest parts are concentrated in the beginniing of the dungeon wihle Dzemael forces you to wait around even after clearing the rooms. Fave: Haukke Manos, but Snowcloak is close. Being the first dungeon where you have access to jobs make it a "tutorial" to the differences while not being so hard that people that don't have the job stones can't do it and after the visual redesign it's just so pretty. HW. Hate: Sohm Al Hard. Nothing particular ly bad, I just forget this dungeon exists. Fave: Great Gubal Library: First dungeon in level 60, when alot of classes are finally getting their groove, it's a fine paced dungeon and it has some amazing mechanics and the music is perfect. SB. Hate: None, all dungeons hereare fun (but Burn would be here before the rework). Fave: Sirensong Sea. This dungeon REALLY set the sail for a new region entirely different from Eorzea,along with being an amazing reference to the ship graveyard in FFV. SBS. Hate: None. Once again, I have fun in all these dungeons. Fave: Holminster Switch. This dungeon hits like a truck after everything you see in the beginning of Shadowbringer. It is (IMO) carried a lot by the cutscene right after you od it the first time, but that scene with the lightwarden exploding and allowing for night to come for the first time brought me to tears that very few moments in FFXIV ever got me to. EW. Hate: Ktisis Hyperborea. the climax of a region where I actually disliked the writing (Elpis), comes a dungeon that makes me angry,, but mostly due to the final boss, where it is probably one of the most punishing during the final boss (at least when I was leveling my classes and had to do this dungeon so many times). Fave: Aitiascope. Seeing the spirits of those we left behind and how they were still helping us whenever they could was amazing to the theming of this expansion. Seeing also the bosses being phantoms of enemies we previously defeated and, imo, needed a little bit more development, specially when Nero and Gaius got to appear so much later.
Hmmm Favorite Dungones: ARR: Haukke Manor Normal Heavensward: Gubal Library Normal Stormblood: Shisui of the Violet Tides Shadowbringers: Dohn Mheg Endwalker: Vanaspati Least Favorite Dungeons: ARR: Sastasha Heavensward: Xelphatol Stormblood: Drowned City of Skalla Shadowbringers: Mt. Gulg Endwalker: Tower of Zot
My least favorite dungeon is unsurprisingly, as shown in the statistics of this video, Aurum Vale. The general poison in the first room and managing pulls throughout it all can get rather difficult with any misstep and back in my day, the second boss not having any indicators for his insta kill. My favorite dungeon would be Ghimlyt Dark. Not because of the actual fights or mechanics but the overall theme of the story and layout of the dungeon. I love the war aspect of it and having to fight through trenches. The whole theme of the dungeon just really resonates with me as someone who loves looking into our own past wars.
Most: Hauke Manor. Both really. Honorable mention for like: Almost all the (hard) dungeons are underrated. Theyre annoying at first because they have bizzare mechanics but once you start doing mentor roulettes theyre a breath of fresh air. Theyre the only dungeons that feel distinct. Least: Cutters Cry. Its such a toxic dungeon - experienced players know tricks like going straight through the teleporters and going into the boss arena with adds following tank. New players often get left behind. Also the aesthetic and fights couls not be more boring. Qarn honorable mention for worst...
![Kodak Black - Versatile 4 [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/VcP_1Ua__vY/mqdefault.jpg)
You should ask the question again but expansion specific “What was your favourite and least favourite in HW, SB, ShB” and so on to see if the numbers hold up
could also do like a google form survey thing so he doesn't have to deal with counting everything himself since that'd be a looooooooot more to manage
I like this idea also =)
I wish he did this like that. "Fav ARR dungeon?" And continue it with "fav HW dungeon?" etc as a series.
Was just gonna say that. Like I love keeper of the lake. I can't make it higher reasonably, but I frigging love it. Same with Gubal.
On the opposite side, the first Endwalker dungeon doesn't reach the depths, but if I did a top ten worst dungeons, it would include it. I don't know why. I just hated it. I leveled the trusts, so I did all the endwalker dungeons a bit more than normal.
@@fakechannelname8235 It does feel like he skipped alot of useful information and distinctions in the name of making the survey simpler to get more responses, but at a cost of having to do way more manual work. I assume you'd get more responses when all someone has to do to respond is reply to a tweet, but it also made the data alot less useful, and means alot of the conclusions here require some degree of assumption.
Ghimlyt Dark stan here: The reason it became my favorite was entirely within the setup. The whole game you've been gaining inch by inch on Garlemald and now they're done standing around and declare war on you and all the allies you've made. Negotiations have failed and now it's off to the frontlines to face the full might of the main villain (kind of sort of). They really nailed the ground war feeling.
Ghimlyt is a top 3 for me, and I agree. I also like that we have NPCs in that fight that are fighting with us.
It's such an amazing story dungeon, I was seriously impressed the first time I played it.
I love all the dungeons that have lots of friendly NPCs running around fighting and doing stuff. It helps that those are usually the big setpieces. Ghimlyt Dark, Heroes' Gauntlet, Paglth'an. If I had to choose: favorite: Heroes' Gauntlet, least favorite: Stone Vigil Hard
The music is a banger too
I've been telling my sprout that stormblood was the expansion that they really nailed making you feel like u were in the middle of a battle, and this one was the one that drove it home for me. That first time I ran it I felt immersed in the fighting and it was so cool. SHB was when the dngn storytelling really stepped up a lot so I felt similarily about Amarot for similar reasons. But experience wise , those two really stand out for me.
I am among the Pharos Sirius-hating multitudes, I've had so many parties wipe to the first two bosses, while the last two get stomped instantly. It feels like such a whiplash in difficulty that just isn't fun. Plus,the level 50 skill sets just aren't fun yet.
Once, I actually lost count of how many times my party wiped on the first boss. I really wonder if they intentionally made the last bosses a cakewalk.
The only two jobs I've enjoyed playing in Sirius are SAM and RDM, probably because they were designed to be played, functional and fun, at 50. Also, the only thing that I really like about Sirius is the music. Damn, it's just so perfect for the place.
i struggled so much with it on my SMN which i main when it dropped x_x
Huh, thats the reason it ended up on my list for the best. It shows up so rarely anyways, that it’s still fun to watch parties get blown up by the Zu. I don’t think I have ended up in there synced for like a year now.
It really doesn't help that it comes up rarely enough that people usually forget what the mechanics even are. I know the first dude stacks some debuffs on you that like... Explode if you get too many stacks or something, and the second boss like... Spawns eggs that you... Either have to hit or not hit depending on what type they are? I'm really not sure, and even if by some miracle I got that right I don't remember, say, how to avoid the debuff, or what eggs to hit. It's got to the point where I just google the boss mechanics and explain them in chat because no one I've run the dungeon with has known what the bosses do either.
Most Favorite: Paglth'an - Simply because it evokes that nostalgic feeling of beast tribes and it's a subject that has been around since 1.0 (pretty much every beast tribe dungeon has this, Xelphatol was also very good). People would constantly theorize of how this place would be, and imo they absolutely nailed it in our own impression. Also the atmosphere is 10/10, it reminds me wow dungeons with all the dragon mounting and background fighting.
Least Favorite: Halatali
05:58 nope, my favourite vote for aurum vale is not a troll. this dungeon is completeable in 8 mins, since it's not wall-to-wall blocked as most dungeons are.
i agree it is harder than most dungeons due to various reasons, but it is utterly satisfying speeding through the dungeon. also a lot of ppl farmed blue mage kupo stones there (though i never did)
I like Aurum Vale. I always have. I liked when the cyclops didn't have the AoE markers. I like the piss floor and the steam valves that push you. I like the aggravating stuff because it feels good to not get got by it. It's also unique and from a time before every dungeon was the same and they started to get rid of unique mechanics in dungeons.
It is also a great dungeon to spam unsync for light farming in ARR relics. No loading screens, no interactive switches or keys or stuff to slow you down. Its just 1 single uninterrupted run from start to finish
It sounds more like a fondness for that era of dungeon design rather than the dungeon itself
@@MrsAikahime You are right. I'm one of the few people that liked cross-class skills in the job system because it makes the game unique and it has roots in the FF series. As a bard main, I miss being relied upon for support skills like MP regen and single-target defense buffs for things like tankbusters. I just feel like there's been a homogenization in the game and it's been affecting my enjoyment of the game.
@@moreapurva Sorry, I go for Toto-Rak for light farming. It's got all the stuff you said only there is no piss floor to mess you up. The rework of old dungeons really helped Toto-Rak by a country mile, the old one had shit floor to slow you down making the trek to the end take twenty minutes. They removed that and just made the entire dungeon a linear run from start to end, only requiring you to kill every enemy to open doors, which is easier to do unsynced. :)
And the bosses don't have stack debuffs. Anyone remember the old Ichorous Ire? How you had to summon a bomb to blow it up to split it into tiny flans so you could hurt it? Yeah, they replaced that with a piss easy boss. XD
Both Aurum Vale and Dzemael Darkhold are not nearly as bad as people make them out to be. They're pretty good dungeons, really. They just aren't simple "turn your brain off, wall to wall pull down a straight hallway" affairs, which seems to be all anyone wants these days. Every run of those dungeons goes a little bit differently. Tanks have their own styles for how they pull, or how they group up mobs. A lot can go wrong if people aren't careful. The dungeon environment itself presents a lot of danger. It has character. It's memorable. If I were a dungeon, I think I'd rather be the infamous one that everyone dreads rather than some generic place no one remembers.
I always am happy when I get dungeon as "Swallows Compass" and "The Burn" because the music is so beautiful and the environment in the Burn is gorgeous.
Then I cry when I get level 16-30 dungeons. The rest I do not mind.
It really shows how different things 'favorite' can mean. For me it would be based on Bosses and next up theming/music but you brought up a whole lot of people judging heavily by wall-to-wall experiences, which I did not care about at all
While I understand the negativity towards Aurum, I personally like that dungeon. It's one of the shorter ones in the game, is pretty unique with its environmental hazards, and I get a kick out of people still wiping to it every once in awhile. My personal worst dungeon is definitely pre-patch Brayflox Longstop. That dungeon was...so...insanely long. I always dozed off during it.
Favorite dungeon...I'm not really sure. Had to edit this because after watching, I was reminded of my favorite dungeon theme-wise. The Qitana Ravel. Love the theme so much, and I played through it as much as possible to get all of the glamour. The bosses were very interesting to fight as well, and the music was chef's kiss.
I like aspects of Aurum. The environmental stuff and the fruit are good things you need to think about and skirting around things instead of always just going whole hog killing everything is a fun change of pace. Its one of the first dungeons that you need to do something with and not just attack/heal and avoid the orange. BUT it is going to stay at the top of my least favorite list because something with that dungeon always makes my game crash!
@@KatelynDombach oh geez yeah that's worth being your least favorite lol. That sucks though, I wonder what's going on there.
I love Aurum specifically because it's the first dungeon where you really have to be strategic
Just curious what job do you main?
@@zillahstar I guess it'd be Dragoon, but really I play all classes at this point. Dragoon, Samurai, and Reaper are my three favorites. Love melee dpsing.
Favorite - The Heroes' Gauntlet. Doesn't get old for me, love the world-tour-style layout of the dungeon, the music being a medley of the various locale themes, the bosses aren't boring, optional dungeon mechanics that don't ruin the experience if the party should fail to take advantage of them, and the NPC allies helping out all makes for a fantastic experience.
Least Favorite - Aurum Vale. Everyone knows why.
ARR having the most votes just speaks to the character of older dungeons. Like them or dislike them, they are memorable. I can't remember the majority of hallway dungeons from later expansions and if I do it's usually because of the bosses or music, not the dungeon itself.
It's more then hat. Most of the dungeons in art see play because everyone plays them at least once
All ARR dungeons (ignoring the revamp ones simplifying layout) have such a organic design to their layouts. Where their dungeons for later expansions, layout is straightforward boring path from start to finish. Even FF16 dungeons sadly reflect this too
ARR Dungeons actually make me put more thought into what is going on, because if you fail a mechanic, you tend to just fail outright. When I tank I hope that I get 60, 70, 80, or 90, dungeons in the roulette. Because I know th e real challenge are level 50 hard mode dungeons where they actually punish you for doing something wrong. 90 dungeons I can sleep through.
And I do enjoy them because of that. I think i'd rather have things be a little frustrating or stressful than a completely boring slog.
@@HyouVizer This just in, Dawntrail's dungeons just leaked. Here's how they look:
*Giant tunnel corridor*
*Trash pack 1*
*Trash pack 2*
*mini boss*
*Trash pack 3*
*Trash pack 4*
*Mini Boss 2*
*Trash pack 5*
*Trash pack 6*
*Final Boss (complete with your eyes closed)*
Welcome for the spoilers
@@StormierNik You also have to remember that ARR dungeons dont give you full access to your kit either. This is why the most hated one is also the one with multiple classes that don't have aoe attacks, aoe heals and has multiple enviromental hazards.
Favourite is Twinning
Least favourite Hullbreaker Island
You gotta do this for Trials, normal raids, alliance raid as well. This was super interesting!
Would love trials and raids. But why stop at normal raids? Do savage too!
Agree with this!
You animal, I love Hullbreaker! 😩
Ghimlyt was awesome. The set pieces, the atmosphere and our npc friends fighting alongside us was sooo cool
Mt. Gulg is definitely the peak of regular dungeons. The first and third wall-to-wall pack pulls are some of the most exciting moments in casual content and the spectacle is almost unmatched as well with the combination of music, voice acting, visuals, and its role in the story.
I fucking love Pharos Sirius, the atmosphere is chilling and I actually like the fact that it's mechanically difficult for ARR standards. A Light in the Storm is also by far one of my favorite tracks in the game.
The music is SO good
Agreed, but whats with the dragon boss thrown right before final boss randomly? Felt so out of place lol. Also makes it the only dungeon i think to have 4 bosses instead of usual 3 🤔
@@HyouVizer Sastasha has 4. Coeurl, the Captain, the Captain + dogs, and the Sahagin.
@@InfinitusMG brayflox also has 4. The Bird, the drake + gobby chasing fight, the eft, and the dragon.
Id love to see more content like this tbh. Polling community and finding out random fun information
Love baelsars wall myself. Its a fast dungeon with massive pulls, and the final boss is fun to fight.
I think it would be cool to see a unreal effect done to dungeons.
Them picking older dungeons to bring up, maybe nothing crazy to use dev time on but would be nice to see how ppl will react to to these older dungeons with a full kit.
They dont even have to up the difficulty. just give us all unlocked skills in all of the content. i get that some skills just aren´t made for a level 20 boss. just give us a hard damage nerf if we are 50 levels above the minimum level req. and let people play their whole rotation. i think that would make old dungeons and primal much more fun already. also newer players might get interested in certain jobs just because of a skill they see from a higher level player.
I don’t really see the point tbh. There isn’t really that much of a difference between stone vigil and like a level 90 dungeon in difficulty even now, they are both pretty effortless. I mean stone vigil wall to wall is arguably the single hardest msq conent in the game to wall to wall heal, so thats something I guess. The experience hasn’t really changed much between now and then. If anything it would be easier because we have more buttons to deal with things, like just having invulnerabilities on all tanks would make w2w a lot easier than it already is. Given how much time it seems to take them to add these things, I’d much rather they used it on something more than a novelty, like a savage turn or something, one of the main reasons they do unreal is to allow people to do content they wouldn’t normally be able to find a group for easily after all, and dungeons don’t exactly have a lack of people willing to run them currently.
My favorite might actually be the Aetherfont just for the music. The opening really brings to life the cold, crisp air of the northern empty. Always makes for a chill dungeon run. I was so excited when I got the music roll to play in my house.
Aurum Vale is an easy pick simply because it has SO MUCH going against it:
1. Level Sync'd to 49, so none of the juicy level 50 abilities.
2. Highly dangerous ground effects. Not only is this the first time they are encountered in the game (outside of the Heavy effect in Toto-Rak), but the puddles deal TONS of damage. Anyone for whom FF14 is their first MMO is not going to know how to deal with this stuff, and it's never taught anywhere in the game prior to this.
3. Lots of mobs with almost no restrictions on wall-to-wall pulls. Unlike more modern dungeons, where you typically only have 2, maybe 3 packs of trash mobs per pull, AV consistently has a larger number. This means *anyone* being inexperienced can be bad for the whole group if too much is pulled: tanks run out of cooldowns, healers don't have all the tools to keep up large amounts of heals, DPS can't kill enough mobs fast enough to slow the pressue.
4. All of the above combined with it being a relatively low-level dungeon (for the game as it currently is) means newer players rarely have had the time to learn all of the ins and outs of the game yet - especially when, as noted above, things are explicitly NOT taught to them at any earlier point, such as the gold pools. Anyone going into the dungeon - particularly tanks and healers - with lower-level gear makes this one of the first really big pain points of the game.
It's one of the earliest things to point to in FF14 and say, "THIS is why we need a Hall of the Intermediate or somesuch."
Great video Happs!
My personal fav is The Burn and my least favorite is The Sunken Temple of Qarn.
By expansion my favs are -> Lost City of Amdapor, Great Gubal Library (HARD), The Burn, Amaurot, and Ktisis Hyperboreia.
Least favs are -> Sunken Temple of Qarn, Nearreap, Shisui of the Violet Tides, Matoya's Relict and The Tower of Zot.
Here's by expansion: ARR: Favorite is probably Snowcloak, least favorite is Pharos Sirius. Heavensward: Favorite is Sohr Khai, least favorite (I haven't done hardly any of the optional ones) is the Dusk Vigil. Stormblood: Favorite is The Ghimlyt Dark, least favorite is the Sirensong Sea (really sucks that there's no lvl 63 MSQ dungeon, and I still haven't unlocked Shisui). Shadowbringers: Favorite is Mt. Gulg. So much fun to heal and tank in wall to wall pulls, and most DPS jobs have a satisfactory rotation at that point. Least favorite is Dohn Mheg. Endwalker: Favorite is Ktisis Hyperboreia. One of the few dungeons that feels fresh even when doing dungeon spam for leveling, and the music and aesthetic are incredible. Least favorite is the Tower of Babil. It always feels like leveling takes forever from 81-87, and this is the worst of itself, the Tower of Zot, and Vanaspati, in my opinion.
A lot of the ARR postgame dungeons aren’t even run very often. A lot of newer players haven’t even played them at all because they’re completely optional and only important if you’re a super completionist/lore junkie/want to get a Zodiac (ARR) weapon.
Aurum vale is a dungeon that is entirely dependant on how how much your tank knows, if they’ve been around for a while you’ll just blaze through have an easy time.
Darkhold is always awful no matter what, but aurum vale beats it because its the meme pick
I kind of like darkhold because it's the first content as a healer where you get aoe after so long just spamming 1 attack
you say that but go and pick up every mob in the first room and see how long you last lmao
@@ShitOwl That's... what he's talking about. An experienced tank *doesn't* dick around with all the mobs in the first room. As a party, you can skip most of them by hugging the wall and kiting into the first boss arena.
@@Princess_Ruto ... thats not the point which is this if you pull everything and i do mean everything sage's and scholars healing won't be able to keep up at that level then less u have a war since they already have holmgang there
Aurum Vale also dependent on not getting jerks in your party. I ran Aurum Vale once as a tank, and a DPS would constantly run ahead of the party and get himself killed, and whenever I would try to make a beeline for the boss room and avoid enemies, this DPS would run around to all the enemies, trigger then, and then pull them to the rest of the group.
Aurum Vale is a nightmare for healers if the tank just runs around in the party pool.
keep getting newbie dps attacking all mobs first room thinking needing to kill all of them to advance and shocker it causes wipes lol
I think Aurum Vale gets it rough primarily because people are so familiar with it as an early dungeon that appears very often in roulettes for leveling and MSQ. It's not particularly taxing or long. Stone Vigil(hard) absolutely deserves its place though for the turtle boss and it's an optional dungeon which means many players may have skipped it entirely.
As for favorite I'd probably go with Aloalo Island with Mount Rokkon as a close 2nd. Both absolutely beautiful but Matsya gets Aloalo the nod.
I don't use Twitter, so I couldn't vote, but for me Mt Gulg is the dungeon Amurot isn't. It's a cap to shadowbringers, and it's fun.
I've got one kind of hot take for ya: My favorite dungeon in all of FFXIV is Akadaemia Anyder.
That's not one you hear every day, right? lol. So why do I love it so much? Well, for starters, the music is amazing. Yes, I know, it's just some fun jazzy piano thing, but it SLAPS. I actually still have the track on my playlist in my personal house, no joke. Second, the pulls you could do in that dungeon could go from zzzzz, to 'I'm awake', to 'HELL YEAH NOW WE'RE COOKIN' depending on the boldness and bravery of the tank you have, and I feel like that's something that's sort of being erased with more recent dungeons. Third, the bosses are relatively unique and entertaining, (at least, even though they're not incredibly difficult), and the Amaurotian theming of the dungeon is scenic and pretty to wander through.
There, that's my hot take. The other is predictable: A lot of ARR dungeons are un-fun to say the least, but nothing makes me hover over the 'leave duty' button quite like Aurum Vale in roulette.
Mt. Gulg is not my favorite dungeon, but it does have one of my favorite bosses in it: the cube with the nine faces on it. I love bosses with puzzle mechanics because it makes it much more interesting to do the mechanics than simply "don't step in the red puddle". I also like the final boss in it.
As for my picks, I'd say my favorite would be Smileton (it's also the only level 90 dungeon I can consistently do well in -- for some reason I'm just having trouble with the bosses in the other dungeons). Plus, the music is fun and more exposure to Loporrits is always a blast.
My least favorite would probably be Amaurot. I know people love it for emotional reasons, and it was fine for that when you're running it the first time. But I never look forward to having to run it again and I always dread possibly getting it in the 50/60/70/80 roulette. It's just so difficult that while I understand the difficulty for the first run, the difficulty for repeated runs makes it just no fun to go through again.
Aurum Vale is fun! I loved it cause it was the first time that newbies had to keep an eye out for patrols or a wipe was a sure thing. When someone was leveling and people would ask if they can let the eggs spawn. DPS complaining they died from nothing then explain the floor is posionous. If it was a first time for the whole group it was a shit show but after your first painful one it just becomes a fun place to visit cause you know what not to do now. Also back in the day when you had to tell melee newbies "If the cyclops is praying run or we'll be praying for you to rest in peace"
Thanks for an awesome video, Haps! I loved the look at what dungeons the community as a whole loved. I am very glad that Ghymlit got such a high ranking; I was really happy to see that, when FFXIV went for a 'this is gritty war' theme for the end of Stormblood patch content, they really went for it.
My favorite dungeon in the game has to be Amaurot, not a place I see often, but it's such a memorable dungeon for many reasons.
My least Favorite is the Lunar Subterrane in EndWalker. It feels like a bait and switch dungeon from what I was hoping to see from a place directly from FF4 to suddenly end up as not Lunar Subterrane part way through, that, and it's starting to become increasingly annoying how large they are making the trash mobs, because I can't see myself anymore as a tank outside the bosses
Yooo Ghimlyt gang rise up!
Honestly I don't feel incredibly strongly about dungeons. I used to not remember Ghimlyt AT ALL but after using it to grind for I think one of the moogle tome events or one of the relic steps I grew to love how it tried to implement a more epic feel with bringing in all the NPCs and making them actually do things, especially with the randomness involved in, say, who performs the LB3 on the final armor. I don't know if it's 100% my favorite but it's definitely more on the positive side now and grows on me more over time.
As for most hated, I would have said old Copperbell for being a giant slog of pointless time-wasting encounters or old Toto'Rak purely for how many runs of it I did with the GC squad when leveling all my jobs to 50, but those have both been changed to less interesting but less annoying versions. Honestly ARR dungeon design was so experimental that part of me can't bring myself to actually hate those dungeons because at least they were trying something different and I find that I value texture more and more over time.
So maybe without digging through I can't pick a least favorite dungeon. If I do Ill come back and edit this post with one.
Dead Ends is my all time fav. No hesitation. The narrative voice in this dungeon is absolutely PERFECT. The atmosphere is so, so good. Give me nerd chills. Every.Single.Time.
Least fav... I would say Dzemael. Frogs PTSD from the old version of it. But also random small rocks breaking LOS, weird first boss, non-interesting second.
Least Favorite: Aurum Vale
Most Favorite: The Tower of Babil
Aurum Vale is the only dungeon in this game that makes me audibly groan when I get it in rouls. Its just a combination of it being a low level dungeon (severely lacking in skills for most jobs), and that more often than not you're pulling through people who don't know or understands the dangers of the dungeon (poisons, acid puddles etc.).
The Tower of Babil, on the other hand, is a joy in rouls. Most jobs have a decent set of skills available, the music is great, the idea of finally storming the imperial palace is awesome, and that final boss is an epic fight.
Yeah those are my least favorite and most favorite too. Babil was awesome, there was a ton going on there
Unironically, Stone Vigil Hard to me is a really good dungeon. It introduces a mechanic where a boss ignores all aggro/enmity and is scripted. It's definitely not my favorite, of course. If I have to pick favorites...
ARR: Keeper of the Lake / Amdapor Keep (Hard)
HW: Gubal (Hard) / Xelphatol
SB: Fractal Continuum (Hard)
ShB: Amaurot
EdW: Lapis Manalis
Note that Xelphatol was changed when they added Duty Support. The balloons in the last area don't go back for more trash anymore
I hadn’t really thought about it before, but Ghimlyt Dark may actually be my favorite dungeon too. It’s an epic culmination of our journey so far where all our allies join to help us, and it’s an exciting look towards the start of Shadowbringers and even Endwalker, where we really start bringing the war to Garlemald.
Least favorite is easily Aurum Vale. I just have so many bad memories of trying to heal in there while I was still trying to figure out what I was doing as a newbie white mage 10 years ago.
I generally judge by bosses, story, and music. Wall to wall or nonlinearity/linearity doesn't factor for me, so my fav overall is probably something like The Twinning or Dead Ends.
By expansion: ARR - Wanderer's Palace/Lost City of Amdapor; HW - Dusk Vigil/Antitower; SB - The Burn (Sirensong Sea also because of the music); ShB - Twinning/Holminster Switch (shoutout to Matoya's Relict and Pagl'than); EW - Dead Ends (shoutout to Fell Court and Alzadaal).
Overall:
Favourite: Swallow's Compass
The music, the aesthetic, it's all gorgeous.
Least Favourite: Dzemael Darkhold
If the tank is new, the whole thing is physically painful to get through.
By Expansion:
ARR:
F: Snowcloak (mostly because of The Warrens)
LF: Dzemael (already said above)
HW:
F: Xelphatol (I just think its neat)
LF: ARF (so... long...)
SB:
F: Swallow's Compass (already said above)
LF: Fractal Continuum Hard (tired of Allagan BS already by this point)
ShB:
F: The Twinning (the music, the story, the memes)
LF: Malikah's Well (just a bit underwhelming compared to the rest)
EW:
F: Tower of Babil (mostly because of Anima)
LF: Tower of Zot (only cause I like the other dungeons more, I actually do LIKE Zot)
My Favorite: Gimmlyt Dark
My Least Favorite - Halatali- all 3 bosses are boring. First one just sits there, 2nd and 3rd have invincibilty phases. Plus its really annoying if you get to the end and forgot to pull one of the chains
I actually REALLY love aurum vale, it's easily in my top 5 favorites. I think it gets way too much hate. It had a very interesting aesthetic, it had the famous marlboro which for long time final fantasy fans have grown to be afraid of these in random encounters. The mechanics were fairly interesting and had a good level of accountability. Often times i remember explaining how bosses worked if we did wipe, but i really really enjoyed this place.
Favourite - Brayflox HM. I adored it when it released and it was where I learned to wall-to-wall pull. It was a rewarding jump in difficulty that I have fond memories of but sadly 10 years on, wall-to-wall pulling in most dungeons feels bland and easy since the dungeons are designed/gated around it. I loved Brayflox because you could customise your pulls a little.
Plus the gobbies are so cute. Last boss was also great. Timing dps against him so you could skip a phase while farming for your relic. Good memories.
Least favourite - By far - Old Toto Rak. THE SLOW SLUDGE. I normally get really sad when they change old content because it feels like it loses a part of its design or its challenge, but I'm so glad the sludge is gone. I'll never have to suffer it again in levelling roulette.
I realise both of my votes are for ARR so for clarifying context, I'm not a newbie or someone who quit. I'm a long time player who has completed Endwalker and one Ultimate. Amaurot and Dead Ends are close choices for fave dungeons as I love the story aspects and I was really wowed when I first completed them, but I have too many fond memories of Brayflox. Tbh a lot of my fondest memories come from overcoming challenges. Brayflox for dungeons, Titan Extreme during ARR for Trials and E5S for Savages (not a hard one but my first savage clear with a static. I did clear a few Coils back in the day but I don't have fond memories there).
The Main Story is of course fantastic but overcoming challenges creates my own personal story/journey with the game. It makes me sad that a lot of players miss out on this aspect due to fear of failure. But I also understand. It took my friend encouraging me to try Savage fights in Shadowbringers for me to see that I was a better player than i creditted myself for. Which started me on my journey to my TEA clear. One of my proudest and fondest memories in my gaming life.
Anyway that was a surprise walk down memory lane with some food for thought. Nice video Haps!
This was a really cool idea for a video. It was reminiscent of the sort of video that I loved seeing from another creator who has currently burned out on the game and is making other content that I'm not personally interested in but I wish them well all the same. It's just always really fun to see the community directly contribute to fun and engaging content that sparks healthy conversations about a game. If you're possibly looking to do something similar in the future, I'd personally love to see an up to date feeler on what jobs people enjoy playing right now and/or what jobs they are looking forward to playing in Dawntrail. The first idea could easily be done now but the latter idea might be more interesting once we've seen more information about the jobs in Dawntrail but before the actual expansion drops so that the results could be compared to see if simply seeing the jobs in action in the new expansion greatly changes how people feel about them or if they are more the ride or die types that stick to what they like.
can we do this for trials next? this was a fun watch. Also favorite dungeon is the one where you're training with the limsa and the final boss is mistbeard (don't remember the name) and least favorite is dzemael.
You're thinking of Hullbreaker Isle (Hard).
Favourite: Dead Ends. Story-wise, music-wise, the narration, and honestly the fights as well. Every time I roll it in roulettes I turn off anything I'm watching in the background, make sure I have BGM on and just relive the experience. I'm genuinely surprised so many people liked Smileton though, sure the music is great but that and the tiny melee uptime spot you can get in the last fight are the only two things I like about it. I wonder if it has something to do with getting it about 50% of the time I do a 90 roulette and just being over it at this point?
Least Favourite: Stone Vigil Hard suffers a lot for that middle turtle boss tbh, I don't think I could pick anything other than that because if you get in there with a group that doesn't know how to do it, and isn't receptive to feedback... it gets rough
EW:
+ Dead Ends
- Aetherfont
ShB:
+ Amaurot
- Holminster
StB:
+ Bardam or Burn
- Sirensong
HW:
+ Vault
- Antitower
ARR:
+ The Stone Vigil Normal or Pharos Sirius
- Cutter's Cry
I feel like a lot of people picked Aurum Vale for the memes. Both Dzemael and Brayflox's Longstop suck way more than AV.
Think Haukke and Ghymlyt did well on atmosphere/theme. Haukke is timeless, a big surprise back in ARR to walk into the haunted mansion themed dungeon.
Ghymlyt basically delivers what SB should've been an grey all-out war between the Alliance and Empire. Plus at 70, everyone has most of their key abilities. Also the music and opening cinematic are hype.
I'm suprised Paghltan didn't do well for the same reason. I love how open the dungeon looks, the whole ongoing battle atmosphere, the cameos from npcs and its bgm is a remix of my all time favorite track from ARR.
I think the HW dungeons lost some of their flair after the skill pruning and everything is mostly piss poor easy.
Mr. Happy, thank you for going the extra mile and do such a video because it was a lot of work.
Most Disliked Dungeon - Stone Vigil (Hard)
The reason why i hate this the most is because of the second boss, not just because it's a time sink but also doing it with Blue solo was a absolute pain. Also if you do this with random people you always have a hard time to communicate what to do during the second boss fight. I had so many healers that forgot to heal during this fight and i can't blame them for that.
Most Liked Dungeon - The Burn
Visually i like the last part, the open area with the white sand and the gigantic sand worm corps. The sheer endless dunes and clear blue sky in contrast with the white sand, you really got a feeling of solitude but also peace. I also like it to play that as a healer because still to this day, the last boss in this dungeons had the most wipes of all the dungeons bosses. Because with people who do it the first time, the mechanics ar ekinda tricky and me playing healer is a extra step that i have to manage and it challenges me.
The Burn's soundtrack was also great and one of my favorites, definitely a nice change from all the other Stormblood dungeons.
My favourite Dungeon is probably Holminster Switch. It's a great tonesetter for ShB and tells you what is at stake, seeing people instantly turn into Sin Eaters and killing Tesleen as a boss. I love the music because not only does it remind me of music from old MMOs I've played, it gives the feeling of dread and urgency with the piano drop at the end representing a small glimmer of hope for this world. The only bad part about this dungeon is the third set of trash pulls with the Sin Eater Coccoons spawning a small set one by one instead of one big wall2wall. It makes the dungeon a bit longer.
As an Amal'jaa stan, I love the Sil'Dih Subterrane so much. It was so intriguing to not only discover the past of the country of Thanalan, but, also how intertwined all of the races that lived there once were, until Balah'Dia ruined everything. #JusticeForAmal'jaa
My least favorite dungeon is definitely Haukke Manor (Hard), if for no reason than Halicarnassus. An unresponsive party can make what is an okay dungeon with neat story stuff into just an utter slog of trying to slow down DPS races.
Love the Gubal Library. Theres nothing like blasting acid jazz pulling wall to wall, and the bosses really stood out to me when I first fought them.
Overall: Zot is my favorite. Cutters Cry is my least. Although as a disclaimer, I haven't played Cutter's Cry since they reworked the ARR dungeons, so maybe I hate it less now. But I despise the old version.
By expansion-
ARR: Keeper of the Lake+, Cutter's-
HW: GG Library+, Sohm Al-
SB: Drowned City+, S.M.Arbor (H)-
ShB: H.Gauntlet+, Grand Cosmos-
EW: Zot+, Alzadaal's-
The by expansion choices are based on how happy/annoyed I am to get them in a roulette. Otherwise it would be tough for me to rank favorites between the dungeon itself and the story around it.
Cutter's Cry is still the same
@@PipPanoma Then it's still the worst. Appreciate the update lol
You should definitely do one for raids/trials. Though you should probably split them between normal and savage/extreme, and maybe alliance raids being a separate category
A lot of your confusion on the ARR ones is that I bet a lot of people never unlock the optional dungeons
I just finished a run of ARR and it's weird to say but the nostalgia for old Praetorium makes it easily my favorite ARR dungeon. I had so many good times in party chat back during the 8 man no skip cutscenes.
Least favorite: Malikah's Well, but I guess that's just because I had to run it approximately 3127432167878 times to level both trusts and my own jobs.
Most favorite: Smileton, the atmosphere and music just bring a smile to my face every time I get it in roulette.
Honorable mention: Fell Court. I get why people hate this one, but I ran it so much as SAM that I have the entire dungeon planned out to the GCD. It feels so great to burn through that place in 10 minutes when everyone is hitting their peak.
The only issue with AV is you cap/sync your level at 49, which locks you out of a lot of good lvl 50 abilities.
Swallows compass had the best theme and music for me, and that last section where u pull all the mobs to the door was super fun and challenging.
Great Gubal Library (hard) is pretty fun. The music slaps and the final boss is fun.
Wait nvm. The Twinning is my favorite.
Lost City of Amdapor is my least favorite thanks to the final boss's mechanic of matching the door symbols to dodge one of their attacks. It'd be fine if the symbols stayed over the doors longer, imo.
Favorite is tough, but I'm gonna have to go with Aitiascope. Basically with the emotional weight of the characters who died along the journey are there to help us is what puts it above others for me.
Honorable mentions would be Heroes' Gaunlet(a send off to Shadowbringers and all the areas and people we met), Kugane Castle(loved the aesthetic) , and Temple of the Fist(I'm a mnk main)
Dishonorable mentions are Aurum Vale(it'd be fine if it wasn't for the puddles and having to stop mid-rotation to get rid of a debuff by eating fruit) and Bardam's Mettle(I hate the mid-boss that's just "do mechanics")
dzemael darkhold has the best pull of ARR, and then the dungeon goes bad.
you can pull from spawn all the way to the last crystal before the first boss and murder everything while getting extra mit from the crystal and its awesome
Sure, if your party members aren't all still rocking level 1 accessories ;)
Favorite, The twinning, I shouldn't have to explain that. Least favorite, Malika's Well. I often just kinda forget that it's there. It's surrounded by two of my favorites, and just manages to be empty.
I loved the depth and the analysis of it. It is quite a pride and joy to see the result of data gathering to the point where you can use it as a way to show how far we've come as players after playing this game, some longer than others.
(But to point something out...)I think in a way Ghimlyt was presented to us at the time versus now is when you see the parallels of war. I remember Zepla talking about it in a video about how Ghimlyt resonates with her in a way now she saw herself fleeing from Ukraine to get to the U.S. It was really frightening and sad at the same time. Don't get me wrong, but we know FF does not shy away from the real world stuff and its atrocities and the fact that Ghimlyt in a way presented us a trench like battlefield between Garlemald and the five nations that stood united made it feel more realistic...but I must digress from here.
There were so many good and bad dungeons throughout the expansion that for me to pick them is hard. Though I suppose my least was none other than Pharos Normal and my most favorite was Anyder. Something about the last part of that dungeon especially in the story that we get to not only understand a little more a certain Ascian, but do we get a small introduction of the "great convocation of Venat" (if you know, you know).
Seeing that TP bar tugs at my nostalgia lol.
Good riddance lol
I feel like Castrum and Prae often get neglected because people don't really think of them as "dungeons" even if they are, because of how they are tied to their own unique roulette. So I think they probably just escaped a lot of people's minds.
I also think certain dungeons like The Twinning would have gotten a lot more votes if they weren't optional, since they are competing against dungeons that everyone has to do.
Paglth'an is my favorite dungeon for multiple reasons. Firstly it's the last dungeon before Endwalker, meaning there was the whole set up towards Endwalker with it. I remember doing it almost daily (along with Matoya's Relict) through expert roulette while waiting for Endwalker to release and I have very fond memories of doing so. Another reason is the bosses. They're not hard but they give a good enough challenge. The last boss being Lunar Bahamut and having Tiamat help us right before we fight it is the cherry on top. I also really like it's music, it's catchy. Also riding wyverns towards the last area of the dungeon while looking out on the large plains is really cool.
My least favorite dungeon is Great Gubal Library (Normal). I don't think it's a bad dungeon by any means. Honestly it's a good dungeon. I like the final boss. But I get this dungeon ALL THE TIME in leveling roulette and I'm so tired of doing it. I'd rather do any other dungeon.
Ghymlit didn’t surprise me at all! As someone who absolutely loves the “culmination of plot dungeons,” Ghymlit is up there with Amaurot and Dead Ends for me. And I think for a lot of people! It’s dark and gloomy but story-wise it’s complemented by some amazing patch content, and I love getting it in roulettes! I find it extremely immersive and I think that’s why it got so many positive votes.
I will say though, my favorite dungeon. It’s a hard choice but I think Doma Castle. A lot of it has to do with the music (still one of my favorite tracks in the game,) but as I said above it is also has a lot of story elements! I just get hype whenever I spawn into Doma Castle in roulettes.
Least favorite… I’m gonna be cliche and say Aurum Vale lol. I have a lot of traumatizing memories from back in ARR, regarding that dungeon. And imo it doesn’t have enough redeeming qualities to combat how awkward and difficult the pulls are for new players! Even the aesthetic is kinda rough, and the music isn’t anything super special. Making it the dungeon I go “oh no not this one!” for the most. At least a lot of the later dungeons I can also enjoy the visuals and music, even if I don’t love the pulls or boss mechanics… 😅
speed runners love ARR dungeons, you can do wall to boss pulls. I can run Aurum Vale in 10min or less with a good group of experienced players, and I have more fun with that then some of the more current well made dungeons.
I think the design and not the fodder matter when it comes to favorite. Mr. Gulg’s design is one of favorite leveling dungeons. Going from the mountain arm to the top of the pure white areas. Amaurot is my favorite. The story of Shadowbringers is great.
Favorite per expansion: Copperbell Mines (hard), The Vault, Sirensong Sea, The Qitana Ravel, The Tower of Zot
Honorable mentions (3 per expansion): Haukke Manor, The Sunken Temple of Qarn (hard), Snowcloak, The Great Gubal Library (hard), Sohm Al (hard), Saint Mocianne's Arboretum, Doma Castle, The Burn, The Temple of the Fist, Holminster Switch, The Grand Cosmos, Pagl'than, The Tower of Bab-il, Vanaspati, The Stigma Dreamscape
Least favorite per expansion: Cutter's Cry, Xelphatol, Saint Mocianne's Arboretum (hard), Dohn Mheg, The Aitiascope
Great video, I think you could refine the method for a more precise result (since you're basically doing science). For example, the bias here is "most/least", but maybe a lot of people had Bardam or Aurum Vale as a top 5 or top 10, which skews the result about overall appreciation of dungeons since these preferences weren't voiced in this analysis.
Nonetheless, cool idea, hope you'll get even more interesting results ! As for me :
Most liked : The Burn, the music, the aesthetic, the final boss, I love it.
Least liked : Stone Vigil HM. In itself it's not that bad, but the clunkyness of Cuca Fera brings it down several notches for me
I don't hate or love Aurum Vale. Pre-rework Thousand Maws with the slow slime and exploding eggs was always my most hated. Generally over all I have positive memories of ARR dungeons because it was the last time we had "adventure" dungeons that we just did because they were there rather than "a thing in the story" dungeons.
Fave dungeon is Sohm Al.
Honestly, I'm not a fan of most dungeons gameplay-wise, so it's really just the vibes that make or break them for me, and climbing a dragon mountain with imo the most majestic ost in the background really does it for me. The glam from there, especially the pants and chest pieces are pretty cool and unique too, I hope they get reused in DT as dungeon or crafting gear, and if not, then I hope it won't take long for graphics update to cover them.
Honorable mention: Wanderer's Palace HM. Really like the vibes here: Tonberry resuce mission with heroic ost, but it loses a bit on the setting looking mid and puke green, og Palace looked nicer.
Least fave is Vanaspati.
Most lvling dungeons from ShB onwards drag a lot if dps's not on point, and I feel it the most in Vanaspati. Also last boss is a sprout killer, and if said sprout is a healrt, it can lead to a horrid wipefest. This dungeon is what convinced me to go SMN for Astrope farm, and I still had one wipe there, just cause healer couldn't stay up for one sec. More bad than good experiences all around in that place.
Dishonorable mention: Castrum Meridianum after rework. It takes too long for how unengaging ARR combat is. At least stuff in Toto-rak, or Aurum, Dzemael etc. dies quickly.
Akadaemia Anyder for three reasons: The layout, the music, and the final boss.
It was good to see my very first FF8 GF again.
You can tell how the AV will go by seeing if the tank zooms off into the middle of the first room and then dies in 10 seconds. I think that was a key memory for a lot of healers in ARR era.
My most favorite:
Haukke Manor - this dungeon gives the team so much agency. Want to go fast, can do! Want to take it slow, can do! Nooks and crannies to find or skip. Stunnable bosses and the last boss is very intuitive with some cool strats.
My least favorite:
Haukke Manor Hard - How do you take one of the most open dungeons and make it a boring hallway? The bosses have some cool mechanics but the last boss has a huge difficulty spike if you don't take care (and separate) the mobs. Most PUGs are not going to know how to manage this (either veterans or sprouts) and it leads to some cringe inducing plays.
Ah, Aurum Vale, the valley of piss.
I think it's a big part of farming, which is why it's detested.
i'm guessing proooooobably moreso because of stuff like bad tanks or dps positioning themselves poorly causes the first room to be fully pulled, which is like 95% of the time a wipe
Im surprised people dont like Dzemael. The buffs really speed up the process and allow you to do a big pull, plus the gear is nice. The fact that people also dont like Cutter's Cry is sort of baffling for me too, the bosses arent too hard, and you can skip adds between the first and second boss enitrely, which is a big plus in my book.
Probably fave dungeon in any of the expansions, for me, is Ktisis Hyperborea. Everytime I get it in Roulette, I get so hyped up.
Probably most disliked dungeon? Probably Halitali (Hard) tbh.
It doesn't surprise me that Aurum Vale has a few positive votes. Its far more memorable than alot of other dungeons in general, and the first boss fight is the first fight in the game that requires you to think about actual tactics, which i appreciate as a training tool for future dungeons (making people realize they cant just ignore mechanics, like they can in earlier dungeons).
Its certainly interesting seeing how personal biases impacted not only your expectation of what would win, but how\what was tested. Theres a few instances of information that was a known about but not tested for because you didn't want it to be too complicated, while knowing this would be a data driven video (and as a result more information would always be better). Unfortunately it seems like you were looking for a minimum viable results, rather than accurate ones.
As an example, Choosing not to separate between ARR old and new dungeons was a misstep imo. Alot of the ARR dungeons were complicated prior to Endwalker but are basically straight runs now, and generally dramatically shorter, so they likely have different scores for different people compared to their original layouts. I'd expect people that like mechanics to be happier with ARR old versions, and players that just want quick runs to prefer new versions, but because there's no distinction we don't actually know.
Old Coincounter made me appreciate AV
EDIT: On Twitter, least was Tam-Tara (Normal) & Smileton was my favorite
Not even close to related but seeing the old Happy at the bottom and seeing how far he’s come is inspiring me to start going to the gym again!!! Keep up the good work Haps!
Absolutely loved Mount Rokkon. Some serious work went into it, and I'm sad I'll never see it in roulettes. Least favourite is probably Halatali; It's exceptionally early and it's even more awkward than the somewhat streamlined Copperbell and Totorak.
My favorite dungeon is probably Ghmlyt, but I LOVE Baelsar's Wall for that last pull before the Griffin. One of my favorite tanking spots in the game.
Id still say thousand maws and stone vigil nm are my fav.
Not because of the dungeon itself, but because of the level.
At 26 youd get your first combo finisher and at 40 most jobs got their full identity.
Thats for ARR though
Probably the best dungeon for me would be brayfox’s longstop because I can pull all the trash and the boss at the same time, and that’s just super fun. In terms of actual design, most of them are near identical reskins, so its hard to choose, but maybe phaos sirius, that one with the tonberry stalker or the tam tara deepcroft. I don’t think its a coincidence those are all in ARR. shoutout to that dungeon where you fight midgardsormr or that one where you fought Hraesvelgr on the platforms, those were fun and would have made it on the list before they blandified them. I don’t think dungeons are exactly Ff14’s strong suit currently if you couldn’t tell.
Edit: oh yeah, Aumarot gets on the list for its decently cool bosses, and how genuinely chilling of an experience it was, dead ends wishes it was half as interesting of a final dungeon as Aumarot is.
If you ever attempt a poll/experiment like this again, I would recommend just setting up a Google form or a Strawpoll. You have a lot of upfront work in setting up the form, but in exchange you save a ton more time since you don't have to manually aggregate poll results.
Sohm Al (hard) 100% for me, the dungeon itself is pretty alright but the soundtrack is nutty, playing the 1.0 thanalan battle theme as the overall dungeon theme, with Persistance for the mini bosses and ending with Revenge Twofold is just perfect.
Favorite: Temple of the Fist
I've been a monk main since ARR, so I was incredibly excited for this dungeon from the moment I found out it existed. Not only do I love the theme, but it has two of my favorite bosses ever (the twin coeurls and Ivon). Barely passes The Vault, which was a homerun on basically every metric.
Least Favorite: Neverreap
It's really not that bad a dungeon, but doing this repeatedly when 3.0 dropped left such a bad taste in my mouth that I can't help but loathe it to this day.
I never voted on this poll, but when it comes to Endwalker, I think maybe there might be some influence by the experience doing a dungeon within a trust. And Dohn Mheg can be a pain in the ass, simply because I have taken a stream on that second boss, only to have one of my lovely trust members come to where I am, forcing me to go to another one at a point it's too damn late. Usually it doesn't matter, but depending on which job I am on, that can cut it close with being able to get the boss down before it gets just huge and clobbers me.
I actually like that dungeon, but in a trust if I just want to get through it, that boss can make it more interesting than it might otherwise be.
Autumn vale is pain. I hated it when I first ran, I hated it when my wife was leveling, I hated it when it came up in roulette. Part of it is it's awkward for dragoon at that level with how some of the skills have moved since when I started in heavensward, but I just don't find it fun.
Favorite...honestly my mind first clicks to ghimlyt dark. I really enjoyed it when it came out, the progression of these are the war machines that used to be bosses and now are trash, I love the animatronics on display with all your allies there in the battle with you. It's a fun ride, and I just enjoy it when it comes up for me.
I'd almost want to see just a giant survey poll with "How would you feel about getting this dungeon in a roulette?" with 3 or maybe 5 options spanning negative to positive. Maybe copy the same question with Music, visuals, story, and complete package. It would be interesting to see if you could derive how important those other elements are based on how people rated the complete packages vs the individual metrics. FWIW, I don't think this would be too bad to make in google forms, if memory serves - I could probably make something in forms if you wanted at some point.
Broooo so much work. You should have used a Google Forms with a dropdown list with all the dungeons names. One for the favourite and then a copy for the least favourite, then export the results.
I loved Aurum Vale because when I was playing through in late Stormbringers it was one of the few dungeons that was actually challenging.
I don't know if I really dislike 95% of FFXIV dungeons, but I just nothing nearly all of them. Maybe 1 boss is memorable, but nothing beyond that, which I consider far worse than if it's trying in any regards.
Least: Tossup between Stone Vigil (Hard) and Haukke (Hard) because of the gimmickyness of the 2nd and 3rd bosses respectively. SV is probably my pick though because that one is just straight up tediously designed, while Haukke feels more like it's just broken due to potency numbers having climbed.
Most: The vistas of the Aetherfont. Some of them definitely feel dated due to the age of the game graphics, but they felt like they really tried to give it a grand vibe that resonates well with me. I like snow and blue magic.
This will be along one and I'll do it by expansion:
ARR. Hate: Dzemael. Aurum Vale is hard, but the hardest parts are concentrated in the beginniing of the dungeon wihle Dzemael forces you to wait around even after clearing the rooms. Fave: Haukke Manos, but Snowcloak is close. Being the first dungeon where you have access to jobs make it a "tutorial" to the differences while not being so hard that people that don't have the job stones can't do it and after the visual redesign it's just so pretty.
HW. Hate: Sohm Al Hard. Nothing particular ly bad, I just forget this dungeon exists. Fave: Great Gubal Library: First dungeon in level 60, when alot of classes are finally getting their groove, it's a fine paced dungeon and it has some amazing mechanics and the music is perfect.
SB. Hate: None, all dungeons hereare fun (but Burn would be here before the rework). Fave: Sirensong Sea. This dungeon REALLY set the sail for a new region entirely different from Eorzea,along with being an amazing reference to the ship graveyard in FFV.
SBS. Hate: None. Once again, I have fun in all these dungeons. Fave: Holminster Switch. This dungeon hits like a truck after everything you see in the beginning of Shadowbringer. It is (IMO) carried a lot by the cutscene right after you od it the first time, but that scene with the lightwarden exploding and allowing for night to come for the first time brought me to tears that very few moments in FFXIV ever got me to.
EW. Hate: Ktisis Hyperborea. the climax of a region where I actually disliked the writing (Elpis), comes a dungeon that makes me angry,, but mostly due to the final boss, where it is probably one of the most punishing during the final boss (at least when I was leveling my classes and had to do this dungeon so many times). Fave: Aitiascope. Seeing the spirits of those we left behind and how they were still helping us whenever they could was amazing to the theming of this expansion. Seeing also the bosses being phantoms of enemies we previously defeated and, imo, needed a little bit more development, specially when Nero and Gaius got to appear so much later.
Hmmm
Favorite Dungones:
ARR: Haukke Manor Normal
Heavensward: Gubal Library Normal
Stormblood: Shisui of the Violet Tides
Shadowbringers: Dohn Mheg
Endwalker: Vanaspati
Least Favorite Dungeons:
ARR: Sastasha
Heavensward: Xelphatol
Stormblood: Drowned City of Skalla
Shadowbringers: Mt. Gulg
Endwalker: Tower of Zot
My least favorite dungeon is unsurprisingly, as shown in the statistics of this video, Aurum Vale. The general poison in the first room and managing pulls throughout it all can get rather difficult with any misstep and back in my day, the second boss not having any indicators for his insta kill.
My favorite dungeon would be Ghimlyt Dark. Not because of the actual fights or mechanics but the overall theme of the story and layout of the dungeon. I love the war aspect of it and having to fight through trenches. The whole theme of the dungeon just really resonates with me as someone who loves looking into our own past wars.
Most: Hauke Manor. Both really.
Honorable mention for like: Almost all the (hard) dungeons are underrated. Theyre annoying at first because they have bizzare mechanics but once you start doing mentor roulettes theyre a breath of fresh air. Theyre the only dungeons that feel distinct.
Least: Cutters Cry. Its such a toxic dungeon - experienced players know tricks like going straight through the teleporters and going into the boss arena with adds following tank. New players often get left behind. Also the aesthetic and fights couls not be more boring.
Qarn honorable mention for worst...