The Solo category allows for runs to be made unsynced, and I think that a cursory glance shows that Solo is the most popular and competitive category by far. Synced—which is the category that specifically mandates that a player enters an instance without a premade party and completes it at a synced iLv—however, has, comparatively, an incredibly marginal amount of participation. A brief summary of the topmost runs are as follows: Sastasha, Copperbell, Halatali and Toto-Rak respectively have two runs each in this category. Tam-Tara has just one. It's clear that interest in this category is pretty low, probably the reason being is that you're relying solely on three Random Guys for your times, and we all know how duty finder can be. Glancing at runs further down in the list, most times are just generally uncontested—I don't think that Synced, as it stands, is a category that supports a healthy, competitive, and engaged community.

Hello, I'm Beefy Swoles, speedrunning casual/hobbiest. A few friends and I have recently become interested in running FFXIV's dungeons (pls verify), and perusing through the list, the Synced category seems to be mostly comprised of casual dungeon runs that happened to be recorded and largely exist because they're uncontested. I personally don't feel as if this category is competitive, and that its existence doesn't seem to justify itself. In lieu of this category, I would personally like to see a delineation between Cooperative 2-Person, 3-Person, and 4-Person, as even minor experimentation with a third or fourth party results in times several seconds removed from standing WRs. As it stands, those runs would immediately and easily replace all standing 1sts. I believe that possibility flies in the face of the effort spent theorizing and routing dungeons by the current record holders.

I hope to hear your thoughts and opinions.

I think that speedrunning is generally pretty pro-"doing something to circumvent game mechanics," that's, like, the whole point of the hobby? I personally suggest allowing cutscene skipping in only premade 8-man squads, so that other people aren't meaningfully impacted. cutscene skipping is a very visible and obvious time save, and I feel that banning it outright is a bit of a kneejerk reaction.

hopefully we can see this decision reversed or amended.