How exactly does Alliance Raid roullette work?

[Reimmi]

it gets real old running into the same one for the roulette, but meh, not much they can realistically do about people cheesing it

[HyoMinPark]

I've unlocked all 3 raids - Crystal, Pirate thingy, and the new one...

But when I do roulette ONLY crystal tower pops, regardless of what job I use to queue with (obviously it's the only one that will pop if the job is under level 60).

I've not completed the Pirate one - is that why it never pops?
But I have completed the new one.

Am I just getting Crystal Tower so much because that location will be used for the start of 5.0 so people are all trying to run it... or is this because I have to particular select the Pirate one and complete it before it will show... I got Crystal Tower in the roulette BEFORE I had completed it - and finished the last two parts 'randomly', but I did manually select the first part of it...

Between people doing it in preparation for 5.0, you only need to unlock one Alliance raid to unlock the roulette. Most people just unlock Labyrinth of the Ancients and no others, so that’s why it tends to pop more often than any of the other ones.

[Makeda]

So from reading the responses I gather that essentially I'm seeing the very bad end of random. The odds of getting something other than Crystal are stacked against me due to unlocking patterns and iLevel manipulation of everyone - and I've just been unlucky enough to have never seen the lower chance options pop.

It could happen, but it hasn't yet.

I almost feel like my mistake was unlocking Crystal Tower... If I'd not unlocked it, I'd only see the other two - I'd likely have vastly long queue times, but at least I'd see them without given up the roulette bonuses.

That kind of reminds me of the mount roulette until the recent patch. From 2013 until just a few months ago I never used the mount roulette because I had unlocked the behometh mount... and I hated that mount... and there was no way to avoid it... so I always just used only one other mount that was at least small. I had stacks of mounts on my characters that I didn't even know I had, and avoided mount runs/farming/shop; due to my efforts to avoid the behometh... O.o I just found one 'ok and graphically small' mount and ignored the mount system from then forward until this new patch...

Now I just have to hope that sometimes after the 24-person of 5.x comes out, they give us a way to exclude some older raids... so I can at least see the others without making it a near-0-XP low loot run...

[Vahlnir]

It only takes 1 person to queue for them to drag 23 other people along. I've had days, if not weeks, of the same raid through Alliance Raid roulette before so it can be painful seeing the same lvl 50 or 60 raid repeatedly. It's working as intended though.

[van_arn]

Between people doing it in preparation for 5.0, you only need to unlock one Alliance raid to unlock the roulette. Most people just unlock Labyrinth of the Ancients and no others, so that’s why it tends to pop more often than any of the other ones.

You need to clear one to unlock the second, and at that point the roulette opens

[HyoMinPark]

You need to clear one to unlock the second, and at that point the roulette opens

I know. When I say "unlock", I'm implying that you actually clear it first. Unlike other roulettes that need at least 2 duties, Alliance Roulette only needs one. And people don't bother going beyond LotA because "it's easy EXP". But it's boring as sin.

From what I remember on my alt, I didn't have to unlock ST to unlock the Roulette. I did LotA normally and then immediately did the Roulette afterwards on her. No ST needed.

[Gemina]

I'm not sure what can be done about level 70 lazies from deliberately dropping their ilv so they won't get the more recent raids. Since I run 24-man more than any other content, what I have been seeing a lot lately are KOs and full on wipes in Crystal Tower. This hasn't happened in Rabanastre or Ridoranna for quite some time, but it's happening in CT. Only in Orbonne is vote abandon being proceeded with thanks to Cid's multitude of mechanics and players killing their comrades when they don't know what to do.

A LoTA run I had the other night was just a disaster. The red rectangle main aggro indicator was never on a tank, and Phlegethon got to a phase of AoE telegraphs I've never seen before because it was taking so long to kill him. Same with Xande, and Cloud of Darkness' big beam attack is one-shotting players again.

Basically, Crystal Tower is becoming a schitefest and these players are eventually going to start wondering if dropping their ilv is even worth it, because the easy clears are no longer a guarantee. If I was SE, I'd just grab some popcorn and kick my heels up.

[Vahlnir]

Basically, Crystal Tower is becoming a schitefest and these players are eventually going to start wondering if dropping their ilv is even worth it, because the easy clears are no longer a guarantee. If I was SE, I'd just grab some popcorn and kick my heels up.

So...avoid Alliance Raid Roulette. Got it.

[HyoMinPark]

I'm not sure what can be done about level 70 lazies from deliberately dropping their ilv so they won't get the more recent raids.

The only way is enforcing a minimum item level—probably one that corresponds with the item level of the last raid added to the Roulette, or something like:
- Level 50 and Item Level i90 (World of Darkness item level)
- Level 60 and Item Level i235 (Dun Scaith item level)
- Level 70 and Item Level i365 (Orbonne Monastery item level)

And it scales based on what level you queue into it with (e.g., queue in with a level 65 job, you need to meet the level 60 requirements).

Since I run 24-man more than any other content, what I have been seeing a lot lately are KOs and full on wipes in Crystal Tower. This hasn't happened in Rabanastre or Ridoranna for quite some time, but it's happening in CT. Only in Orbonne is vote abandon being proceeded with thanks to Cid's multitude of mechanics and players killing their comrades when they don't know what to do.

Honestly, wipes in CT aren’t uncommon. Lots of people don’t stand on the pads for LotA’s last boss during Ancient Flare and wipe the raid. WoD, I’ve wiped on every boss in there well after its period of relevancy: Angry Mango wipes are not surprising, and I still see them to this day...4 years later...with no new players in the instance...

Back in HW, you’d see a lot of deaths to the Bone Dragon because people would ignore the skeletons (because lol what are mechanics). But since they nerfed the amount the skeletons do when they blow up, it only really happens to the babies that queue in wearing their AF gear.

[Gemina]

So...avoid Alliance Raid Roulette. Got it.

Well... you'd never try use roulette to get a specific raid anyway. Since a lot of players are still after pennies from the Ivalice raids, it is not hard to get into any of them when queueing for them specifically. The HW raids are a different story. I sat in a queue for over an hour trying to get a proto ultima ring for my SAM I am leveling from Dun Scath. But if you are after the exp and tome bonus, you either have to pretty much accept that it's going to be in one of CT raids, or do something different.

But yeah, I do believe this is temporary if the CT schitefest continues. SE will likely see the roulette as "working as intended".