Opinions on Crystal Tower: Labyrinth of the Ancients and Syrcus Tower

[Godzillaxpowerrangers]

I tried joining a min il run of labyrinth a few years ago during EW patches, we didn't get past Behemoth

Really makes me wonder how it was back when it was new with ARR's job complexity

When it first was new it was two tanks instead of the one tank we have now.

[Nadda]

I'd like to know people's opinions of them because there's been some talk about how it has been getting in the way of relic since patch - and both first impressions and later impressions welcome.

I'll start by saying that when I did Labyrinth and Syrcus before WoD when ARR was the current story, I didn't feel like it was a braindead slog. It actually was pretty fun. Though, nowadays since our damage as a whole is so strong, I just feel like both of them aren't really fun anymore and it's moved to the side as slop. Void Ark still shows mechanics at least, even if it gets ran over pretty quick still, and Alliance Raids don't actually start to present a challenge until you do the Weeping City of Mhach.

My favorite part about Crystal Tower and Lab is that the devs said they fixed the queues so you were more likely to get Level-relevant Alliance raid queues and stop getting Crystal and Lab all the time.

Only for that not to be the case.
And that queueing alliance raid it's more like it went from 100% of the time crystal/lab to it only now being 99% of the time

Meanwhile, I have to wait 16-20 minutes whether I'm healer or dps to do the brand new FF11 raids for the damn coins that everybody should (don't wanna say logically) but possibly be playing since it's the newest casual thing you can do.

...
Normally I don't rant about things in the game but since I spotted this thread I figured I'd use it to vent.
Alliance Raid basically equals Crystal or Lab it should lean more towards level relevant which is what they said it would be but instead I'm playing stupid games and winning stupid prizes. (Oh well, least I'm not one of those lame people who literally abandon as soon as they see it's crystal or lab - - I'd probably do so for nier lmao but realistically abandoning a raid I don't like just seems unfair to the folks who are there for fun)

Between the long queues for newer alliance raids to perpetually getting Crystal Tower/Lab - I almost feel like there's absolutely zero point to the content, it's like a theme park ride but with a really long line, feels like a waste. (I'm not even one of those people who hate playing my jobs at lower levels I just figure newer content should have some form of priority even if it's artificial you know to sell the current product? and not something made over a decade ago that arbitrarily became a msq requirement)

[Valence]

I tried joining a min il run of labyrinth a few years ago during EW patches, we didn't get past Behemoth

Really makes me wonder how it was back when it was new with ARR's job complexity

So there was two things in effect essentially back when it was current:

1) Like today, people are used to run the raid and know it like the back of their pocket eventually. Makes runs a lot smoother, even if yes, you had to actually respect the mechanics (bone dragon especially couldn't be bruteforced like today, behemoth had towers to be dealt with)
2) Even when it wasn't current anymore, like in late ARR or in HW, there was no Alliance Raid roulette yet in the game, so everybody forgot about the mechanics until one was added into the game and mechanics were barely relevant by then.

[Asari5]

what kind of minilvl run was that? i joined a minilvl crystal tower run for all three raids and we've barely seen more mechanics than usual. (also in EW)

behemoth wiped us a few times but thats pretty much it. all the others died as usual without showing many mechanics.

the one boss in syrcus tower where the platforms catch fire and you have to jump from platform to platform? right we didnt see that mechanic either.

a streamer organized these runs with his community, which has some raiders but consists of mostly casual players.

[Shistar]

what kind of minilvl run was that? i joined a minilvl crystal tower run for all three raids and we've barely seen more mechanics than usual. (also in EW)

I don't exactly remember, I joined an organized group from a Twitter post (???) but it might have been MINE in my case? I don't quite remember anything else, I was healing and there were a lot of bleeds going off, specially at Behemoth, so I was very busy pumping out heals and regens like a maniac, and we did wipe once to him I think.
Wouldn't be surprised if some people turned up without their job crystals or in trash gear for the memes.


I think the only spicy one was Behemoth really, last boss didn't have much going on and WoD was pretty much the same so we didn't even bother with it, I believe? It was fun, though!

[Azurarok]

Think it was also close to a blind run as well? I just joined via partyfinder. It was mainly Bone Dragon and Behemoth walling us but iirc the group also wasn't exactly stellar at coordinating either.

[HyperiusUltima]

what kind of minilvl run was that? i joined a minilvl crystal tower run for all three raids and we've barely seen more mechanics than usual. (also in EW)

behemoth wiped us a few times but thats pretty much it. all the others died as usual without showing many mechanics.

the one boss in syrcus tower where the platforms catch fire and you have to jump from platform to platform? right we didnt see that mechanic either.

a streamer organized these runs with his community, which has some raiders but consists of mostly casual players.

If that’s the case even at Minimum iLv, then the fights are overdue for a rework.

[RedLolly]

I tried joining a min il run of labyrinth a few years ago during EW patches, we didn't get past Behemoth

Really makes me wonder how it was back when it was new with ARR's job complexity

Syrcus Tower had actual mechanics that were murderous at every turn. Scylla was my favorite because you needed to really deal with the freezes and puddles to not unstant wipe from flare or just fail DPS checks, while also avoiding nuking everyone from not powering towers. You needed to know how to do so many things since you never knew if you were getting an orb.

The real pain point was World of Darkness. The very first junk pull with Chimeras could wipe alliances. Angra Manyu's add phase would stack AoE damage so rapidly and was a tight DPS check. And Cloud. Dear lord, Cloud's bad breath phase after the 3 party DPS check was downright unfair when everything was hitting 3x harder.

But it was FUN. You could learn the fights and pull them off and it felt GOOD. It was every bit as wild and messy as brand new 24-mans and their requirements were.

Asking my friends to come along was like pulling teeth, too. It was way too much for the average player, but that level of difficulty was the perfect sweet spot for me, personally. Man, now I miss it.

[RedLolly]

Think it was also close to a blind run as well? I just joined via partyfinder. It was mainly Bone Dragon and Behemoth walling us but iirc the group also wasn't exactly stellar at coordinating either.

Behemoth has an entire tower mechanic that involves the electricity damage hitting the entire alliance that was a little nebulous even on content. I barely remember how it work beyond the fact we had to do something with them and the adds. All of witch is entirely ignorable now.

Honestly I think the only fight that still works as intended is Phlegethon in Labyrinth, amd it's mostly because his mechanics are fast enough to see them all while also still killing greedy players with his one-hit kill that needs to alliance to run away to sheild.

[VeyaAkemi]

Honestly I think the only fight that still works as intended is Phlegethon in Labyrinth, amd it's mostly because his mechanics are fast enough to see them all while also still killing greedy players with his one-hit kill that needs to alliance to run away to sheild.

I wouldn't even say that, I haven't seen the second Ancient Flare in ages...