Crystal Tower Question

[AlwaysConfused]

Crystal Tower Questions (Hope correct tab, did not see a raid tab)

Newer player here. Level 52 DPS, just discovered that in order to progress in my MSQ I must complete the Crystal Tower quests.

Appears Crystal Tower is a 24-person Raid.

1. Is this really doable by Duty Finder?
Always thought raids were premades, with a lot of learning positions movement, etc.
2. So far, all dungeons including the hard ones I have tried are doable almost on the easy side with maybe two wipes. Is it the same with these low level raids?
Thank you for your response.

[Ahnog]

Yes, it's doable with Duty Finder. Completed it that way by signing on late at night when the raiders were active.

[Iscah]

Hello and welcome to the game!

Yes, the Crystal Tower can be done through DF and game changes over time have eroded a lot of the difficulty. They're really just big dungeons with a series of boss battles.

The main thing is to stick with your group when the party splits. A to the left, B in the centre, C to the right.

Things of note I can think of (not a complete guide):

LABYRINTH OF THE ANCIENTS

• When fighting the Atomos, four people need to stand in each coloured circle. This is generally the job of the healers and ranged DPS, but depending on the party arrangement it's something to keep an eye on.
  
• When fighting Thanatos, only people turned transparent are able to attack the boss. Others deal with the smaller enemies.
  
• The Behemoth puts green markers on people – these become boulders that will be used as shields for the next attack. When he stands up, he's going to call down a meteor on the arena so get behind a rock.
  
• Final boss Phlegethon – when he starts to cast Ancient Flare, run for the edges. Expect to die the first time, especially as melee you've got the furthest to run. If he's not positioned in the centre of the room then he'll first move back there, so take it as a warning signal.

SYRCUS TOWER

• Scylla casts elemental orbs on people. Ice will freeze you (no escaping it), fire orbs should be dragged onto frozen people, lightning to the pillars on the edges of the arena.
  
• Final boss Xande – twice during the fight he warps away and you break some targets; when he returns, three people will be marked with black circles. Don't run away with these, they need to be shared with other players. Gather in the centre, stay there while the circles turn white and Xande casts Ancient Quaga, then run out once you see yellow AOE circles appear under you.

THE WORLD OF DARKNESS

• First boss Angra Mainyu (the flying eye) has a lot of instant-death attacks to get used to:
  - when the floor turns red and white, you need to stand on a different colour each time
  - Lv100 Flare / Lv150 Death locks one person in circle and sends tethers to surrounding players; run out of the circle to break away
  - when he casts Mortal Gaze, look away to avoid Doom status
  - if you failed to look away for Mortal Gaze, stand in the glowing circle to clear it.
  
• Cerberus has two area hazards: a glowing orb labelled "gastric juice" which casts a shrinking spell around it, and a circle of purple goo that will trap you and then Cerberus will eat you. Put together, one team (usually B on English servers) needs to be shrunk and then eaten so they can attack Cerberus from the inside. Afterwards, two people bring chains from the corners of the arena to re-tether Cerberus.
  
• Final boss is mostly easy after that. If you get a target on you at the start, sprint away to avoid a chasing attack. And when circle patterns appear on the floor around the arena, at least one person need to be standing in each circle to prevent an explosion from it.

[AlwaysConfused]

@Ischa and Ahnog. I just wanted to thank you for your responses, and tips. I very much appreciate it.

[Frizze]

2. So far, all dungeons including the hard ones I have tried are doable almost on the easy side with maybe two wipes. Is it the same with these low level raids?
Thank you for your response.

Your main questions have been answered, but ill hop in with the answer to a question you didnt quite ask but it sounds like you still may want to know. Difficulty in raids. So the term "raid" in this game gets used to mean a couple different things. There are single group raids, and there are multi-group raids. The Crystal Tower(multi group "alliance" raid) set is the only one(so far) required to complete the story. Alliance raids tend to be set at a difficulty of 3-5 out of 10(though a couple of the easier ones are nothing close to a 3). They dont require pre-made parties, and they can mostly be completed blind with a handful of wipes at worst. An alliance raid is specifically 3 groups, but a few pieces of side content have 48 or 56 person raids - these may be set to a much higher difficulty then a typical "alliance raid" and in many cases are completed with pre-made parties or discord communities. You will never que into that sort of content without knowing it in advance.

The other types of raids are single full-party content. These typically have a regular/normal/story difficulty level(2-6 out of 10), then once you complete them there is usually a sidequest to unlock the "Savage" version of the same raid tier(difficulty can run from 4-10 out of 10). When people think of harder fights in this game, they mostly think of these "Savage Raids". And while they are typically fought via pre-made groups and involve a lot of learning, people do clear them in pick up groups all the time. Some people wait for others to finish and publish guides, others figure the fights out for themselves. And again, you will almost always know if you are queing into a savage fight.

There are also "Extreme Trials". These are the trial fights youve already cleared on story difficulty but with more and harder mechanics. Most of these are named the same as the original fight with the EX tag added(if Ifrit was Bowl of Embers, then Ifrit extreme would be Bowl of Embers Extreme). A few of them are instead labled as "Minstrels Ballad: _____". Those are typically for the "extra" important story fights(so the Ultima Weapon extreme is Minstrels Ballad: Ultima's Bane). These end up typically landing at a difficulty level between an alliance fight and a savage fight.

The very toughest fights in the game are the "Ultimates". These are unlocked via completing specific Savage Raids. While a PuG is possible for these, it is exceedingly rare to see one that makes good progress. These fights are scripted in such a way that one player failing most mechs will lead to a group wipe(often immediately sometimes just via a cascade of failures). When a new one goes live, these are the content that inspire legitimate world first races.

And a final note. The 8 man raids among the level 50 content(the Coils of Bahamut series) are special. The devs were still figuring out what worked, so these dont have a story-mode difficulty setting and only exist as the equivalent of early savages. They also include more cutscenes then any comparable savage raid, as the rest of the raids put most of the cutscenes in the story-mode difficulty rather then slowing down the savage progress.

Ok, hope some of that helps!

[AlwaysConfused]

@Frizze, Outstanding information, while reading your post I recalled a Bert Gummer quote, “I feel I was denied critical need-to-know information.” I am going to feel even dumber then I already do if that info was available in game . But I did not see it anywhere. As a newer player I believe your summary ought to be easily available through the duty finder somehow. A great big Thank You .

[Frizze]

Some of that info is in game, some of it isnt. They also hadnt 100% established the patterns yet in the early ARR patches, so things get more "standardized" as you go forward. At level 50 all youll find are some Extreme Trials(mostly unlocked in the waking sands), the Coil(Savage difficulty) raids, and the CT alliance set(this being the only set the game forces you to interact with as the Ex's and Coils are strictly optional). Lets add a "chart" to make this more readable incase anyone comes looking later for similar info and finds it. So this is how difficulty is usually arranged.

Easiest to hardest: Typical Dungeon > Normal Raid > Alliance Raid > Extreme Trial > Savage Raid > Ultimate

The other thing that might be good to know is what you can expect to get for clearing a given piece of content. Dungeons you should already know. Normal raids will drop tokens that you can turn in for gear in basically every slot(this gear will typically be the level of the newest crafted gear that was added to the game in same patch the raid was added - though obviously the appearance will be different). Alliance Raids(which come out on alternating patches with normal raids) will drop gear in the visible armor slots(this gear will typically be the level of the tomestone gear that is "current" when the raid is released, though sometimes with different sub-stats and always with unique appearances that fit the raid theme). Extreme Trials will typically drop weapons, though there are a few that drop jewelry or armor instead(the weapons are often a small upgrade over whatever was current when the trial was released, jewelry is usually only released when it would be an upgrade... armor drops tend to be more cosmetic in nature). Savage Raids drop gear in every slot, along with tokens that can be used to buy the same drops(should your classes ____ never drop, you know that every X clears you can just buy it instead) - these will be the highest level gear available at the time that the fights are current(the glams will usually match the normal versions, but these are dyable as well while normal ones typically arent). And finally, Ultimates drop weapons - weapons that are mostly for glamour purposes(the weapons are more or less the same as the savage weapon that was current when the ultimate was released, but these ones look super special to help show that you accomplished a hard thing - but since you need to beat the savage to unlock the ultimate it means you already have a weapon that strong just not that shiny).

And of course any of them could include a title, minions, mounts, bardings, music rolls, crafting materials, and other cosmetic items for loot as well. When the raids are current(so right now these are the final set of level 80 raids), alliance and savage raids will also drop tokens that can be used to upgrade tomestone gear as well.

[hynaku]

Good luck most the roulette alliance raid players I get all died and can't follow the mechanics to the raids.