Expect more Crystal Tower in Roulette soon...

no I'm not talking about those item level cheese shenaningans if the following thread and it's contents are to go by:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme...l_tower_quest/

Why link to someone else reporting and not right to the source?
http://ff14net.2chblog.jp/archives/56660779.html

I can't imagine too many haven't already done it though...

I was pretty pissed I barely remembered anything from crystal tower story because it was just too long ago. Rewatched some cutscenes after I completed Shadowbringers, wish I did that before I started.

At first I thought it was just recommended to watch it so you know more about relevant lore and what a crystal tower is, so didn't think it necessary to revisit the story for that.

Didn't realize it involved an actual character (which I had entirely forgotten about by time I went through ShB), really ruined the climax of the reveal

This change makes me suspect even more...

that the Crystal Exarch is going to end up sacrificing himself for one reason or another, but at the same time his original self in G'raha Tia is going to awaken prematurely so that he can continue to aid us on the Source.

It definitely changes the potential of what might happen in 5.3 if they're no longer tiptoeing around keeping the plot consistent for people who haven't done CT. They should have done this sooner.

Hopefully every other major side story is made mandatory over time so their plot points can be freely addressed, explored and referenced in future MSQ's.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Theodric

Hopefully every other major side story is made mandatory over time so their plot points can be freely addressed, explored and referenced in future MSQ's.

---

Honestly I wouldn't mind. I'd love to get to see Cait Sith, Leofard, and the Redbills again.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Theodric

Hopefully every other major side story is made mandatory over time so their plot points can be freely addressed, explored and referenced in future MSQ's.

---

There is already an alternative conversation with someone in 5.0 when you haven't done CT.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by technole

There is already an alternative conversation with someone in 5.0 when you haven't done CT.

---

There are a number of differences with the Crystal Exarch depending on whether or not you've completed the Crystal Tower series. Basically any scene pertaining to his true identity and relationship with the PC has an alternate / extended version.

They should at least make Alexander and Omega required too, given how instrumental those stories are to the explanation of how the Crystal Tower is on the First.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by technole

There is already an alternative conversation with someone in 5.0 when you haven't done CT.

---

Yes, but that's exactly the problem.

Instead of being able to build on the events of CT as something that has already definitely happened, the game has to create alternate versions of conversations in case people haven't done it yet. It complicates the storytelling and means that nothing can directly build on the original events, only reference them.

The huge shift here is that forcing the completion of CT removes the question mark over young G'raha Tia's current state. So long as the quest was optional, the story had to remain consistent whether he was asleep in the tower or if you'd never met him. There was no way they could have a plot point where we open the present-day tower again and wake him up, because he might not be in there yet. Now the plot can progress with the certainty that he is in there.

Up to this point, any theorising about 5.3 (for me at least) was based around the fact that we couldn't possibly be seeing young G'raha again because the quest was optional. Now it is going to be mandatory, and that changes the potential entirely.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Cilia

They should at least make Alexander and Omega required too, given how instrumental those stories are to the explanation of how the Crystal Tower is on the First.

---

They're definitely key to the explanation, but in more of a background way. Missing that understanding doesn't form an actual block to storytelling potential like CT does.

I'd certainly like to see it all made part of the main story, but I can understand why they want to keep it minimal for people progressing through the MSQ.

I was wondering why some Twitch steamers were suddenly doing Labyrinth of the Ancients... this explains it.

Ironically I did ST outside roulette for different reasons. I wanted Sands for certain glamor gear (though it turned out that the Daystar Circlet had an inferior matte finish compared to its more metallic craft-able counterpart)

As if it isn't already 90% CT anyway...

It was only a matter of time before they were gonna force this on people because of one NPC. Next they gonna say "Gotta beat the coils", though if they do that, consider me never completing the MSQ.

CT is already the only thing I ever get in my roulette :cool:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rasikko

It was only a matter of time before they were gonna force this on people because of one NPC. Next they gonna say "Gotta beat the coils", though if they do that, consider me never completing the MSQ.

---

One rather important NPC at this point!

Or two, arguably - it's our first introduction to what Nero is up to post-Praetorium as well. Come to think of it, there's also his "throwing the compass into the abyss" moment at the end with it detecting something down there, whether that was meant to be the beacon we find at the start of Shadowbringers or something else again.

And if they did make the Binding Coil mandatory, I'm sure it would come with a long-overdue "story mode" difficulty level.

(Maybe then we could get away from the weirdness of having Urianger still delivering quests at the Rising Stones when the story has sent him elsewhere. I wonder if they could fix that that as part of the ARR restructure?)

Quote:

---

(Maybe then we could get away from the weirdness of having Urianger still delivering quests at the Rising Stones when the story has sent him elsewhere. I wonder if they could fix that that as part of the ARR restructure?)

---

I think when it comes to any sort of online game with an ongoing "timeline" of sorts, you pretty much have to accept that there will inevitably be some sort of timey-wimey weirdness going on, particularly if you do things out of release order, and the player pretty much just has to try to suspend their disbelief in order for it to "work"

I mean, just look at how many copies of Gerolt we have out there. Dude's gonna get more fractured than the WoL at the rate he's going.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rasikko

Next they gonna say "Gotta beat the coils", though if they do that, consider me never completing the MSQ.

---

Most of these fights can be solod if you go in unsync, none of them require more then like 2 people. With 13 first time poetics and second chance bonuses, it shouldnt be too hard to find a few people willing to help you through these. And the coil story is actually a really nice ending to ARR, so its a shame that not everyone gets to see it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Fynlar

I think when it comes to any sort of online game with an ongoing "timeline" of sorts, you pretty much have to accept that there will inevitably be some sort of timey-wimey weirdness going on, particularly if you do things out of release order, and the player pretty much just has to try to suspend their disbelief in order for it to "work"

I mean, just look at how many copies of Gerolt we have out there. Dude's gonna get more fractured than the WoL at the rate he's going.

---

Yeah, I know it works like that. It's still going to be better to not have a key character standing around in multiple places at once if they can help it. I think it's why they've taken so long to include Urianger as a member of the main group rather than having him arrive mid-cutscene when he has exposition to deliver, then vanish back to the Waking Sands as soon as it's over.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Iscah

Yeah, I know it works like that. It's still going to be better to not have a key character standing around in multiple places at once if they can help it. I think it's why they've taken so long to include Urianger as a member of the main group rather than having him arrive mid-cutscene when he has exposition to deliver, then vanish back to the Waking Sands as soon as it's over.

---

That "can't be more than 2 places at once" was why they made the original hard mode primals compulsory to access the 2.5 main scenario quests, because those quests were handed out by Minfilia and the Scions, but they are meant to be AWOL after the banquet.

F### them. Really.

4.55 should already have been the point.

"Go to the Crystal tower, solve its mysteries so we can meet..."

...if you havent done it already and we're good. Its faceroll like hell anyways and the months between 4.55 and 5.0 are more then enough time, even more if you announce it right at the patches start.

ehhh, the normal/story mode trial series, 8 man and 24 man raids should all become mandatory by the end of their expansion if you ask me

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by swiss_Momo

ehhh, the normal/story mode trial series, 8 man and 24 man raids should all become mandatory by the end of their expansion if you ask me

---

Yes. We have months to do it... i dont demand someone to farm it but still... its not asked that much.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kuroka

Yes. We have months to do it... i dont demand someone to farm it but still... its not asked that much.

---

The problem is that it's not just about the people who've had months to do it, but also about those who picked up the game last week and have to get through every piece of mandatory content, which a lot of people already consider to be too much.

It would be a different story if they chose to treat all old content as "assumed done" for the sake of future storytelling, whether the player has completed it or not, instead of altering dialogue according to completion status. Although that comes with its own risks of confusing people, of course.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Frizze

Most of these fights can be solod if you go in unsync, none of them require more then like 2 people.

---

We're actually at the point where all of them can be cleared solo, though Nael is by far the trickiest of them. She and one of the other Second Coil bosses both come down to dumping all your burst at specific points in the fight in order to skip right through mechanics that would otherwise instantly kill you. For Nael, that part is at around 45-50% of her health.

Imagine someone didn't open CT so it wont ever pop up in alliance roulette and now they have no choice.
Also, if its mandatory for MSQ, that means we'll never get see it buffed in difficulty again, CT will be foverer boring fiesta now with even less chance of getting something else.
Also RIP someone from different timeline.

I'm one of the few who never bothered finishing it. Always meant to for the story but I hate the old pug Alliances. Loathe them. The new ones feel like progression, I enjoyed Rabanastre and Nier, but the old ones just feel like a confusing mechanic skipping zerg rush and if there's a cutscene, they've pulled the boss and have it at 50%. Usual unavoidable issue when a raid is vastly outgeared and purely exists for a weekly chore for tomes. In fact I have just one HW alliance and no ARR ones unlocked.

I'll do it np though, perfectly fine with a little push into it. Might go back over the ShB cutscenes when I'm done and refresh on story. How few players can you get away with if you're unsynching, if I want to hop in with a friends or two and see the story at my own pace?

If only Crystal Tower wasn't a boring zerg fest, I wouldn't mind this. I mean, I get why they want people to have completed the story but it already dominates Alliance Roulette, though that's more because people cheese the roulette. Nonetheless, I wish they adjusted the level sync so we aren't comically overpowered.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by yukiiyuki

Imagine someone didn't open CT so it wont ever pop up in alliance roulette and now they have no choice.
Also, if its mandatory for MSQ, that means we'll never get see it buffed in difficulty again, CT will be foverer boring fiesta now with even less chance of getting something else.
Also RIP someone from different timeline.

---

There were never going to increase the difficulty of them

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Frizze

Most of these fights can be solod if you go in unsync, none of them require more then like 2 people. With 13 first time poetics and second chance bonuses, it shouldnt be too hard to find a few people willing to help you through these. And the coil story is actually a really nice ending to ARR, so its a shame that not everyone gets to see it.

---

I'm really glad the first FC I joined took me through coil. There are some pretty darn big plot revelations in there that I'd never have seen otherwise - including where in the F Alisae disappeared to for the entirety of ARR.

I doubt they'll ever make them required content, but even if they did they are super easy and probably wouldn't even take an hour to fully clear solo (maybe duo for some fights?) unsynced. Even savage coil can be solo'd now - I solo'd t6 and t7 savage as a dancer and was told 8 and 9 could be solo'd as a paladin. Just didn't try those myself :P

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Avidria

I doubt they'll ever make them required content, but even if they did they are super easy and probably wouldn't even take an hour to fully clear solo (maybe duo for some fights?) unsynced.

---

If they made it required content then I really think it would have to be clearable synched.

Even now, it's a difficulty for recommending that people should play it for story, because at the point where they should play it for the story (epilogue to ARR) they're nowhere near strong enough to do it.

Sort of ironic that as soon as they fix the post ARR questline they introduce something just as bad. I might put off going into 5.3 on some of my characters just because of this. Why not have a solo duty instead?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Iscah

If they made it required content then I really think it would have to be clearable synched.

Even now, it's a difficulty for recommending that people should play it for story, because at the point where they should play it for the story (epilogue to ARR) they're nowhere near strong enough to do it.

---

Is it really that bad synced? I haven't tried it myself. First time I did it was back in HW, unsynced but still with some level 50s in the group. Pretty sure I wasn't even 60 then myself.

Like I said tho, I doubt they'd make it required. If it is a problem to do in synced df groups they'd probably need to just tweak it a bit or make a trust version, I dunno. I'm trying to think of reasons we'd need to have seen what happened there for some future events to make sense and coming up blank... though it definitely is good for filling gaps in the story and painting a clearer picture of what happened post 1.0.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by PyurBlue

Sort of ironic that as soon as they fix the post ARR questline they introduce something just as bad. I might put off going into 5.3 on some of my characters just because of this. Why not have a solo duty instead?

---

Just as bad? Wut.....

If it's tied into the story with the new quests how is it anywhere just as bad as fetch quests (the thing people were complaining about)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Valkyrie_Lenneth

Just as bad? Wut.....

If it's tied into the story with the new quests how is it anywhere just as bad as fetch quests (the thing people were complaining about)

---

I guess the way I put it wasn't the clearest. It's not a problem in the same way the endless fetch quests were as it won't add much bloat to the MSQ. The problem is the Alliance roulette. You could skip CT and never get it when queuing, but with this change you won't be able to avoid it if you complete up to 5.3. I'm sure most people are less bothered than me, but this is enough to make me avoid the roulette completely.

First it was the Rabanastre side story-line completion requirement in addition to completing 5.0 MSQ just to unlock the first Level 80 Relic quest.
Now it is having to complete CT side story-line and raids just to continue the MSQ.

To me, it seems like SE really wants us to do these pieces of content for some reason beyond helping them with keeping story-lines straight.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Frizze

Most of these fights can be solod if you go in unsync, none of them require more then like 2 people. With 13 first time poetics and second chance bonuses, it shouldnt be too hard to find a few people willing to help you through these. And the coil story is actually a really nice ending to ARR, so its a shame that not everyone gets to see it.

---

This is besides the point. I simply don't like being controlled and/or being forced to do things I don't want to do.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Xtrasweettea

First it was the Rabanastre side story-line completion requirement in addition to completing 5.0 MSQ just to unlock the first Level 80 Relic quest.
Now it is having to complete CT side story-line and raids just to continue the MSQ.

To me, it seems like SE really wants us to do these pieces of content for some reason beyond helping them with keeping story-lines straight.

---

Most likely due to the facts that MMO or Rpg or whatever format, FF has always been about the story first. It could also be a way to stay engaged in that old content so people actually see it. I have never done xoil but after reading some posts here, I think I may try it for the experience.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rasikko

This is besides the point. I simply don't like being controlled and/or being forced to do things I don't want to do.

---

That is the world of an MMO most of the time.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by PyurBlue

I guess the way I put it wasn't the clearest. It's not a problem in the same way the endless fetch quests were as it won't add much bloat to the MSQ. The problem is the Alliance roulette. You could skip CT and never get it when queuing, but with this change you won't be able to avoid it if you complete up to 5.3. I'm sure most people are less bothered than me, but this is enough to make me avoid the roulette completely.

---

Yeah I mean it won't affect me much because I've had CT unlocked since before the roulette existed, but it's a problem with the roulette as a whole. It's just so heavily skewed toward CT that I already hardly ever see anything else. Which kinda sucks.

A raid blacklist would help even if just for one raid, but I doubt they'd do it since the whole reason we have the roulette is so people can get in to do the raids at all - without waiting upwards of 2 hours for queues like I did before they added it.

I'm hoping when they add this it comes with some tweaks to the roulette. I doubt it will, but I can hope.