Have a list! Lists are hard. I probably cheated a bit.
10. Aurum Vale (1.0's 8-man)
This makes it on the list because (in 1.0) this was actually a pretty fun and difficult dungeon. The air in the yellow rooms was poison, so there was constant tick of damage that healers had to keep up with, on top of a second damage if someone stepped in a puddle. Players had to navigate their way quickly through each room. Bosses were more difficult. I liked it more than the 2.0 version. Merp.
9. Pharos Sirius
I like this dungeon aesthetically. Mechanically, not necessarily my favorite. But I love the theme, the music, and story. I've been waiting for Siren to show up since the 1.0 Mimidoa backstory thingy. But dead people and lighthouses and Limsa! Yay! Actually running it... bleh. Most people end up dropping at the start. People die to bosses. Which is fine. But it's pretty.
8. Sastasha (NM)
Pirates! Also, this dungeon is totally ripped off from 1.0's Shposhae, which I loved and missed being in the open world dearly. But the whole Shposhae backstory got adopted by Sastasha and then those docks that were locked in that event from Cassiopeia Hollow. Loved seeing those back during Beta. Much love.
7. The Wanderer's Palace (NM)
I liked this dungeon, as it was quick and one of the more fun dungeons during 2.0's Mythology totem spam. More fun, as in, one of the two options. But tonberries are fun! Having to run away from the giant tonberry and find places to hide all the while big pulling large swathes of enemies. It was one of those dungeons that was moderately difficult with lower tier gear at the time. I remember having trouble with the pudding boss for a while. But the tonberry fight at the end definitely made up for it. Being swarmed, stabbed, and surrounded by rancored Nymiens.
6. Labyrinth of the Ancients
Not truly a dungeon, but I actually enjoyed having the 24-man content in the game. When it first came out the dungeon was a lot of fun and required no small amount of coordination on behalf of most of the group. It only really started going downhill for me after it became troll city. But I liked that it was content that had a storyline, was accessible to players, but required you to do several steps to unlock it first. I also liked that (and unlike its successors) utilized its class composition. At the time, you needed 6 tanks and 6 healers. Each tank had a role to perform in almost every fight. And that was something I really liked about the dungeon. What irked me so much about LotA's successors was that while you only maxed 3 tanks, there was almost no content in ST or WoD that actually required anything more than 1-2 tanks max ever. While you can run LotA a few tanks short nowadays, it wasn't so at the time.
5. Brayflox's Longstop (NM)
Outside dungeon. That's what I remembering really liking about it when I first went in. Then during the end of that second boss, dat dragon dropping out of the sky! Aw yeah! This was a fun, well thought out dungeon. Pretty views, easy pace, and interesting mechanics. It also dropped some good gear and was definitely a turning point where folks entering FFXIV dungeons realized they'd have to step up their game some.
4. Halatali (HM)
Having a character that's a Bloodsands Gladiator, and honestly really missing being able to fight in the Hypogeum in Ul'dah for the GLA and MNK class quests made me love the remade version of this dungeon. It was fun! Being able to use the environment to your advantage and smash big pulls in a few seconds. The bosses were mechanic heavy and a lot of fun, and not that hard to figure out either. Being in a dungeon where you got to fight other gladiators! From a lore standpoint, got to see what happened to former High Priest Mumuepo...
3. Dzemael Darkhold (1.0's 8-man)
This was FFXIV's first real dungeon, so I'm including it in my list! When it first came out it was hard! Really hard. Mechanics! This 8-man dungeon had you scouting the Dzemael House's fortress for Garleans and Voidsent all in one. The first bit involved a lot of running and kiting - which as a tank was always fun. And Batraaaaaaal! That last boss was terrifying. And the mechanics of having to split up the party to deal with swarming adds, dodging eyes and revenants, and keeping the MT alive with Batraal was such a juggle but it was fun. I remember towards the end solo tanking Batraal as a PLD with no healer, letting both healers go heal the adds party during the fight. Scary, but so much fun. (Of course, this was back in the day when PLD could sustain themselves fairly well. But PLD was also the underdog tank.)
2. Tam-Tara Deepcroft (HM)
Probably my favorite dungeon dungeon. It's dark, it's creepy, it's soaked in story... and blood! I loved finding out what happened to Edda. Also, finding out about the whole love affair between Liavinne and Edda and Avaire. It really opened my eyes to the whole amount of detail behind the smallest, throwaway characters you encounter in the storyline. I remember seeing that end cutscene for the first time... /shiver. And those notes were hella creepy! If you haven't taken the time to read the notes, I definitely recommend doing that.
1. The Binding Coil of Bahamut - Turn 5
This one gets top pick because I think of it as the first truly challenging boss fight in XIV. Crazy mechanics, crazy DPS and gear check, crazy fun to learn. Not crazy fun to DF, I'll admit, but I swear I've run this dungeon so many times for folks I could do it in my sleep. It's just fun to me. I think it was truly when I first started to enjoy Coil. Don't get me wrong, winning T4 at the time was hella awesome. I loved that fight's insanity. But T5 was just on a whole new level of awesome.
10. Aurum Vale (1.0's 8-man)
This makes it on the list because (in 1.0) this was actually a pretty fun and difficult dungeon. The air in the yellow rooms was poison, so there was constant tick of damage that healers had to keep up with, on top of a second damage if someone stepped in a puddle. Players had to navigate their way quickly through each room. Bosses were more difficult. I liked it more than the 2.0 version. Merp.
9. Pharos Sirius
I like this dungeon aesthetically. Mechanically, not necessarily my favorite. But I love the theme, the music, and story. I've been waiting for Siren to show up since the 1.0 Mimidoa backstory thingy. But dead people and lighthouses and Limsa! Yay! Actually running it... bleh. Most people end up dropping at the start. People die to bosses. Which is fine. But it's pretty.
8. Sastasha (NM)
Pirates! Also, this dungeon is totally ripped off from 1.0's Shposhae, which I loved and missed being in the open world dearly. But the whole Shposhae backstory got adopted by Sastasha and then those docks that were locked in that event from Cassiopeia Hollow. Loved seeing those back during Beta. Much love.
7. The Wanderer's Palace (NM)
I liked this dungeon, as it was quick and one of the more fun dungeons during 2.0's Mythology totem spam. More fun, as in, one of the two options. But tonberries are fun! Having to run away from the giant tonberry and find places to hide all the while big pulling large swathes of enemies. It was one of those dungeons that was moderately difficult with lower tier gear at the time. I remember having trouble with the pudding boss for a while. But the tonberry fight at the end definitely made up for it. Being swarmed, stabbed, and surrounded by rancored Nymiens.
6. Labyrinth of the Ancients
Not truly a dungeon, but I actually enjoyed having the 24-man content in the game. When it first came out the dungeon was a lot of fun and required no small amount of coordination on behalf of most of the group. It only really started going downhill for me after it became troll city. But I liked that it was content that had a storyline, was accessible to players, but required you to do several steps to unlock it first. I also liked that (and unlike its successors) utilized its class composition. At the time, you needed 6 tanks and 6 healers. Each tank had a role to perform in almost every fight. And that was something I really liked about the dungeon. What irked me so much about LotA's successors was that while you only maxed 3 tanks, there was almost no content in ST or WoD that actually required anything more than 1-2 tanks max ever. While you can run LotA a few tanks short nowadays, it wasn't so at the time.
5. Brayflox's Longstop (NM)
Outside dungeon. That's what I remembering really liking about it when I first went in. Then during the end of that second boss, dat dragon dropping out of the sky! Aw yeah! This was a fun, well thought out dungeon. Pretty views, easy pace, and interesting mechanics. It also dropped some good gear and was definitely a turning point where folks entering FFXIV dungeons realized they'd have to step up their game some.
4. Halatali (HM)
Having a character that's a Bloodsands Gladiator, and honestly really missing being able to fight in the Hypogeum in Ul'dah for the GLA and MNK class quests made me love the remade version of this dungeon. It was fun! Being able to use the environment to your advantage and smash big pulls in a few seconds. The bosses were mechanic heavy and a lot of fun, and not that hard to figure out either. Being in a dungeon where you got to fight other gladiators! From a lore standpoint, got to see what happened to former High Priest Mumuepo...
3. Dzemael Darkhold (1.0's 8-man)
This was FFXIV's first real dungeon, so I'm including it in my list! When it first came out it was hard! Really hard. Mechanics! This 8-man dungeon had you scouting the Dzemael House's fortress for Garleans and Voidsent all in one. The first bit involved a lot of running and kiting - which as a tank was always fun. And Batraaaaaaal! That last boss was terrifying. And the mechanics of having to split up the party to deal with swarming adds, dodging eyes and revenants, and keeping the MT alive with Batraal was such a juggle but it was fun. I remember towards the end solo tanking Batraal as a PLD with no healer, letting both healers go heal the adds party during the fight. Scary, but so much fun. (Of course, this was back in the day when PLD could sustain themselves fairly well. But PLD was also the underdog tank.)
2. Tam-Tara Deepcroft (HM)
Probably my favorite dungeon dungeon. It's dark, it's creepy, it's soaked in story... and blood! I loved finding out what happened to Edda. Also, finding out about the whole love affair between Liavinne and Edda and Avaire. It really opened my eyes to the whole amount of detail behind the smallest, throwaway characters you encounter in the storyline. I remember seeing that end cutscene for the first time... /shiver. And those notes were hella creepy! If you haven't taken the time to read the notes, I definitely recommend doing that.
1. The Binding Coil of Bahamut - Turn 5
This one gets top pick because I think of it as the first truly challenging boss fight in XIV. Crazy mechanics, crazy DPS and gear check, crazy fun to learn. Not crazy fun to DF, I'll admit, but I swear I've run this dungeon so many times for folks I could do it in my sleep. It's just fun to me. I think it was truly when I first started to enjoy Coil. Don't get me wrong, winning T4 at the time was hella awesome. I loved that fight's insanity. But T5 was just on a whole new level of awesome.
