Alliance Raids Fix. Show your support.

[kaynide]

Kris, that would be a lot of requeuing though, and I don't believe people would have the patience even for that, plus all the time lost from trying, so might not be so bad after all.

Absolutely agreed; There really is no good way to fix it without introducing a bajillion new problems...

[Ursa_Vonfiebryd]

You can't force players to do something, many just won't run the roulette at all and that's a shame. If you want to run the higher level raids just que for them. I get thrown into copied factory and lately the ivalice raids pretty often when I que up on a high level job, not as often as CT mind you but you will naturally have more players with access to only lower level raids so that is about right.

No. Queing for the standard raids doesn't give you the bonus. I'm not opposed to getting any of the lower raids but this is mostly about abolishing the manipulation going on so that all the duties get a fair chance.

[Iscah]

I guess there's an element of whether or not some people are manually queuing for something, or everyone is coming through the roulette.

If one person is manually queuing for Orbonne, then the game is going to have to find some people who can fill the ranks for that.

If nobody needs to be doing any particular raid, then the game is just going to pick the first 24 people in the roulette queue and put them in something that all of them are eligible for - and in the vast majority of cases there's going to be someone who is ineligible for higher raids for some reason, and your chances of getting high raids are increasingly slim.

[Tlamila]

I guess there's an element of whether or not some people are manually queuing for something, or everyone is coming through the roulette.

If one person is manually queuing for Orbonne, then the game is going to have to find some people who can fill the ranks for that.

If nobody needs to be doing any particular raid, then the game is just going to pick the first 24 people in the roulette queue and put them in something that all of them are eligible for - and in the vast majority of cases there's going to be someone who is ineligible for higher raids for some reason, and your chances of getting high raids are increasingly slim.

It's not just that, because if you queue outside roulette for a specific raid that's not CT it's never gonna pop. Because of cheaters, lowering their ilvl, and the mass of people who, even if 80, never bothered unlocking anything but CT because it's just easier to get rewards like that.

I only managed to pop the Ivalice raids I was missing because of the new relic, and because I queued for them right away when it came out. Before that I tried many times for hours. Even if you manage to put together a qualified team, the moment someone withdraws and it finds new member, the new member won't be qualified and the group moves to a different raid.
And with an alt I just now finally unlocked Void Ark, but I know I'll never get to do that and the rest of the chain either. And the least they pop, the least new people will have them unlocked past the first, the more it will keep being CT.

Honestly, I stopped doing alliance raids altogether because even though I'd be so excited to do the other raids, I absolutely can't bare to see anything in CT (now even WoD) anymore. I'd rather cut my hands off.

[Seraphor]

1) Make the Crystal Tower Raids into a separate roulette called MSQ Alliance Raids. These raids are basically canon now with the new expansion so lets give them the same insane chunk of exp that standard MSQ gets (keep the tome payout) and anyone who is leveling or wants the easier path can chose this option and not take the chance of higher raids away from others who want them.

This just sounds... greedy.
You want a roulette that only gives you Crystal Tower raids, and gives you MORE tomes than it currently does. This screams that you simply have no interest in doing the higher level raids, and THAT is the real problem. We need incentive to do all of the content, not segregate the popular content so people only do that.

2) Make Alliance Raids only available to players who unlocked that entire raid tier for their level. So no matter what level you are, if you're queing for MSQ Alliance you'll need all 3 CT raids to unlock it. For Standard Alliance, if you're 80 you'll need all raid tiers (60-current) to unlock the roulette. I think this is pretty fair, considering other roulettes have restrictions like this.

If I understand this correctly, someone who unlocks Void Ark, is unable to ever use Alliance Raid Roulette, at all, until they complete Dun Scaith. Which will never happen because of #1 above where nobody will be running the 'higher level' alliance roulettes because the CT raids would be the superior option, meaning Wiping City and Dun Scaith queues would be hours long permanently.

3) Standard Alliance Raid roulette to be locked to the minimum ilvl requirement of THE LEVEL YOU QUE WITH. If you que as lvl 80, you must meet the minimum requirement for Copied Factory or you can't participate in the roulette. Level 70? Minimum for Rabanastre. Level 60? Minimum for Void Ark. No more manipulation of the system. Period.

Finally, something that should work.
This, in conjunction with the following:

Tome and EXP rewards for Alliance Raid roulette should scale with the tier of raid you end up in.
Similarly to how Praetorium award more than Castrum due to it taking on average 15 minutes longer.
For example, lets say hypothetically the CT raids award you with: 80 Poetics plus 80 Phantasmagoria, 40 Allegory OR 400,000 EXP*
Then the HW raids would award you with: 90 Poetics plus 90 Phantasmagoria, 40 Allegory OR 500,000 EXP*
Then the ST and ShB raids would give you: 100 Poetics plus 100 Phantasmagoria, 50 Allegory OR 600,000 EXP*
(grouping the last two tiers together because getting the current expac's raids will already award you with bonus Phantasmagoria and Allegory.)
*For your current level, e.g. level 7X

This way, whatever you get, you will be compensated for your time, similarly to MSQ roulette.
For EXP it's a significant difference that scales more or less in line with the time it takes
For Poetics/Phanta, it's just 10 tomes one way or the other, which can be made up with a quick trial run if you happen to get the lower level alliance raid, resulting in a similar reward for the time investment.

[Iscah]

It's not just that, because if you queue outside roulette for a specific raid that's not CT it's never gonna pop. Because of cheaters, lowering their ilvl, and the mass of people who, even if 80, never bothered unlocking anything but CT because it's just easier to get rewards like that.

It sounds like one of those things that's worse on the American servers. Queuing for higher raids takes longer here compared to CT - I think I waited around 40 minutes for Orbonne when unlocking it in the very late days of pre-Shadowbringers - but I haven't had to wait hours for anything. CT is definitely still the most common raid, but if you're queuing when eligible for the higher raids then you're going to be getting them.

I've been avoiding the roulette for a while myself - focused on questing and playing an alt that's only Lv50 and deliberately not doing CT For Science*, but now that I've been back to running it on my Lv70+ characters this week I've gotten Labyrinth twice but also Weeping City, Rabanastre and I also got Orbonne last week before the tome event started.

* partly I want to see if Omega still shows flashes of G'raha and Mide if you haven't run their quests, but mostly I want to see if there's any script changes when Nero shows up in Lv60 MSQ if you left him stranded in the World of Darkness by never running that third raid... Cid already has a varying line depending on completion or not, but I want to see if he has a more bewildered reaction inbetween.

[ForteNightshade]

You can't force players to do something, many just won't run the roulette at all and that's a shame. If you want to run the higher level raids just que for them. I get thrown into copied factory and lately the ivalice raids pretty often when I que up on a high level job, not as often as CT mind you but you will naturally have more players with access to only lower level raids so that is about right.

Because then you can't get your reward for brain dead content? I'd rather people didn't run them in that case so the Alliance Roulette wasn't always LotA or Syrcus Tower. You've been Ivalice lately because the Mog tome event incentivized it. Prior to that, it often took upwards of an hour or more queue-ing for Ivalice individually.

At the very least, I wish the ilvl sync wasn't so dramatic. Maybe LotA would be decent then. But now it's literally "AFK: The Raid."

[Rasikko]

It's not just that, because if you queue outside roulette for a specific raid that's not CT it's never gonna pop. Because of cheaters, lowering their ilvl, and the mass of people who, even if 80, never bothered unlocking anything but CT because it's just easier to get rewards like that.

Im gonna respond to this because it partially applies to me.

When I first did CT 6yrs ago, it left a good long impression on me. Weird as it sounds, every time I go in there, I get all tingly, especially in Syrcus.

I unlocked Void Ark and I was disappointed - that one felt like they just threw it together, basically just making it for the sake of giving HW a raid. I didnt bother unlocking the other raids raids after that, besides all I hear people around here say is that they are just wipe fests.

The Copied Factory - that was new and different and I enjoy running it, and looking forward to rest.

I dont care about time vs. effort, I care that I enjoy doing them. I don't ilvl cheese either. Im sorry(seriously) that when I queue up for alliance roulette, there's only gonna be 4 raids you'll end up in, but the chance of CT is higher with the cheesers. If its any consulation I got CF 3 times last week, one yesterday and I once got it for 5 days. DF still does what it wants, so there's that.

[Ursa_Vonfiebryd]

snip.

Actually I would like the choice to NOT do Crystal Tower ever again if possible. This is not about rewards. I specified the exp chunk so it would be worth it to those that are leveling because lets be honest, thats what people mostly use MSQ roulette for. They could even keep the tomes. Or make it less, whatever. The point is to take CT off the table because so many people cheese it for rewards and everyone else has to deal. Also, when you unlock raids you still have to que for them separately if you want to unlock the other. It was a pain in the ass always, and worse now for sure but if you dont want to wait for DF to full theres PF and doing them unsync.

I prefer getting the higher raids. I\\'ve been playing since HW and the CT raids are about 87-90 of content when doing Alliance. I just want the other duties to have a chance. Or they can do like neverwinter and make it so you can get any raid based on level and ilvl without unlocks. Something. Let all raids have an equal chance or we may as well just call it Crystal Tower Raid Roulette and call it a day.

[CatStarPrime]

I like joining Alliance Roulette and getting LotA or ST, because as a max level I am only there for tomestones, and the faster the run, the better.

I still see the occasional MPK because of people who have never seen the Comet mechanic on King B, or on Ancient Flare. I even saw a wipe on the five-headed dragon in WoD last week.

Whatever solution is imposed, I’ll go wherever I can get the most of a current tomestone, for the least work.