Crystal Tower has to go

[Payadopa]

they really should either:
1) heavily ilv lock it and slap it into MSQ roulette (lota ilv75, st ilv90, wod ilv110) so that the first two raids actually have mechanics (they could keep wod at ilv130 ig) or
2) make it a set of solo instances thereby allowing everyone to once again never fear being bored senseless during their daily alliance

Yeah, the ilvl cheese makes many old expansion fights a complete joke.

[Jeeqbit]

If it is so mind-numbingly easy I think its probably a case of :
"Oh no! Crystal tower is too easy at level 90 wth my ilvl 500+ gear!"
Possible solution: mayhaps if they set a maximum ilvl and you need to be below a certain ilvl to participate could add to the challenge.

They are not item level 500+. People get synced to level 50 and its associated item level (130). But that is still too high and makes it too easy.

If only people below 130 could participate then new players would not find a party to help them clear it as quickly.

[Nestama]

I mean, most of the bosses do have mechanics. They just melt so fast now that you'll never see them unless the group is sandbagging. Glasya Labolis is especially bad; I haven't seen a group actually have to face the platform mechanic since 3.1.

Sad thing about ST is that you could start skipping Scylla and Glasya's big mechanics before HW even came out. Heck I'm pretty sure you could start skipping them before 2.4 came out. That raid was severely undertuned.

[Lunalepsy]

I'm sorry. It sucks and is bad.

A lot of things have to go.

[JRat]

They are not item level 500+. People get synced to level 50 and its associated item level (130).

I don't think the raids need to be adjusted to cater to these players because "It sucks and is bad".
I favor making it challenging but still doable by the players who actually Need it for the MSQ.

Also.. can a lvl 50 get 130 gear if they haven't made it to Ishgard yet?

** Yes.. derp the augmented ironworks tombstone gear..**

[Jeeqbit]

I don't think the raids need to be adjusted to cater to these players because "It sucks and is bad".
I favor making it challenging but still doable by the players who actually Need it for the MSQ.

I think it's perfectly doable even at minimum item level. There just might be a wipe or two and everyone will learn from it. It's a lot like how the latest normal mode trials and raids can wipe everyone but they will get it after a few pulls.

Everyone in an alliance raid is a bit of a dorito. The reason a lot of alliance raids don't wipe is actually because the people new to it or who forgot it just follow everyone else. Another reason they don't wipe is because alliance raids are designed to allow a certain percentage of people to not do the mechanics (example, not everyone has to be on a pad for Ancient Flare, just most people) so if a few sprouts don't do the mechanic they will just get a rez after it.

[Ishe-P]

I'll tell you why I don't like it.

#1. I've run this thing well over 100 times, easily. Without tracking or quantifying it at all, I know that ~100 human hours of my time has been spent in this shitty ass raid. I am sick of it and want off the ride.
#2. I get synced to level 50 every time I do it. It's so goddamn awful to play level 50 at this point. It doesn't matter the class or the job, all the cool stuff is gutted, all the muscle memory that has been built for the later stuff is rendered completely unnecessary. I tend to raid as Ninja; it plays so bad at 50, I know other classes do as well.
#3. If I wanted to run it by name, I would. And I would tolerate it if I didn't run it during the roulettes 6 out of 7 times per week. Have you queued in before, to see some dickhead change their HP from like 2000 to 10000 because they queued with a low item level? Yeah, that's why the roulettes are jacked. I do get that a larger portion of the playerbase cannot run 60+ alliance raids because of circumstance, but it is painful to be constantly dragged down to that level, day after day. It sucks, it is bad, and anyone who purposely messes with system to enforce level 50 raids is a giant douche that should be banned.
#4. I think it's crazy that people think Ivalice and HW raids are harder. Do you know why they're harder? It's because people aren't running them as much as running stupid Crystal Tower.
#5. It is disingenuous to suggest that anyone should run CT at minimum ilevel to get the full effect of the raid. That's crazy talk. Only lunatics would run it minimum ilevel on a regular basis, and that does not solve alliance roulette being corrupted by people who can only do or only want to do crystal tower and will find a way to drag randos into doing it.
#6. Yeah, maybe the gameplay is compelling at minimum ilevel, but it isn't anymore. I would never expect anyone but the sproutiest sprout to come in at minimum ilevel, and even they will probably have some level of augmented sprout gear.
#7. Of all the controversial opinions, this could be the worst one: It's not the playerbase's fault at all. SE is so proud of the CT raid that each expansion requires running a CT raid, either optionally, or as a requirement to complete some task: relics in particular, and famously ShB making it an MSQ requirement. [edited for length] After all wasn't Amon such a good character?

At this point CT is beneath my contempt. I've put a ton of time into it and have tolerated it for so long that I finally had to say something. It sucks and is bad; I have to keep doing it, and it sucks, and every time I go through it, it is bad. I hope this is to your satisfaction.

[JRat]

... The reason a lot of alliance raids don't wipe is actually because the people new to it or who forgot it just follow everyone else. ... so if a few sprouts don't do the mechanic they will just get a rez after it.

so much me...

[Minifie]

“Your ilvl equipped is much lower than the highest level that you have equipped before. You will be queued with players of similar circumstances.”

Jack up the rewards of raids 60+, all of them give multiple materia clusters, chonky as hell xp, this only happens if you queued in your highest ilvl available.

Shouldn’t be removed, but cheesing the queue with ilvls should be, I haven’t seen an ivalice or nier raid since I left aether, and maybe 2? Mach raids. Seeing one person’t health shoot up as they put on lunar envoy gear is deflating.

[Jeeqbit]

#5. It is disingenuous to suggest that anyone should run CT at minimum ilevel to get the full effect of the raid. That's crazy talk. Only lunatics would run it minimum ilevel on a regular basis, and that does not solve alliance roulette being corrupted by people who can only do or only want to do crystal tower and will find a way to drag randos into doing it.

It doesn't solve people removing their gear to get into Crystal Tower and maybe if people do that you will see Crystal Tower a little more, but I think we would see it a lot no matter what because it's the first alliance raid, it's required for the MSQ and the lower level you get, the more people haven't quit the game due to MSQ bloat and every one of those new players had about 20 alt jobs to level and their first alliance raids they would qualify for on each of those jobs is Crystal Tower. The roulette matches you with people who queue directly for the content in most cases and where nobody is new or queues directly for it, again the chance that 1 out of 24 people are genuinely leveling a job that is below 60 is high.

Syncing to minimum would solve it for the people who claim the mechanics are boring and don't exist. Is it fun to do mechanics always? Not always, but if people are coming into this thread and saying not doing mechanics is boring then that's the logical solution, not getting rid the raid.

SE is so proud of the CT raid that each expansion requires running a CT raid, either optionally, or as a requirement to complete some task: relics in particular

CT is not required to complete the relics because you've always been able to farm Critical Engagements in Bozja.