Forked Tower: Blood Needs A Normal Mode

[Valence]

You're comparing FT to the wrong thing. You shouldn't be comparing it to DR. You should be comparing it to CLL and Dalriada. Those are both accessed inside the instance the way BA and FT are. And they are both still popular. I just took friends through Dalriada right before OC dropped so they could finally finish Bozja. You don't see the maximum numbers of people like when it was current, but there is still plenty of interest from those inside the instance and it's very easy to clear. I did CLL not too far back as well and it also wasn't an issue. Bozja is not hugely populated and can be hard to get people interested in FATEs but the instanced CEs still get plenty of participation from those inside the instances.

CLL and Dalriada are the only things that proved both 1) popular and 2) engaging in the whole history of field exploratory content. BA only satisfied to 2), and for Forked, while certainly not satisfying to 1) either, remains to be seen about 2).
Everything else has always been gated behind boring grindfiestas no matter the iteration just to access the actual good parts. The way this game is often designed is like players shouldn't have too much fun. Just a little is enough.

[Mawlzy]

CLL and Dalriada are the only things that proved both 1) popular and 2) engaging in the whole history of field exploratory content. BA only satisfied to 2), and for Forked, while certainly not satisfying to 1) either, remains to be seen about 2).
Everything else has always been gated behind boring grindfiestas no matter the iteration just to access the actual good parts. The way this game is often designed is like players shouldn't have too much fun. Just a little is enough.

Credit where it's due, if that is the intent, SE has nailed it.

[Khryseis_Astra]

Posting the text of the digest here (italics mine):

Having multiple difficulty levels would've been ideal; unfortunately, with the time constraints that we had, we lacked the development resources to design and debug two separate difficulties in addition to creating large-scale battle content like Forked Tower from the ground up. Furthermore, we believe the difficulty level overshot what players were expecting before release.

We initially anticipated that, as strategies developed, those who cleared the dungeon would be able to assist others with their clears. But entry method-related complications have hindered groups from going back for multiple clears; as a result, the overall situation has yet to reach the state of affairs that we originally envisioned.

Although we couldn't do it for Forked Tower, we've started discussing the possibility of designing Normal and Savage versions of the next large-scale dungeon. We appreciate the feedback that you've shared with us so far and will do our best to make our next updates as enjoyable as possible.

The wording here leads me to believe it’s as I feared… not only was this another “oops it’s Savage” like CAR, the way they said Forked Tower, without specifying Blood or Magic, sounds like the “next large-scale dungeon” is whatever they do for the next field op. So we’ll have not one, but two, BA style raids and no normal dungeon instances at all for Occult Crescent.

So in other words, the content casuals were looking forward to all this time is capping off each zone with a Savage level dungeon.

I still think this is wrong, and while I know it would take time and resources, both versions of Forked Tower should have a Normal mode. While I personally will try to find a discord group to get me through it (eventually because of the unnecessary hassle of having to do so), I will continue to campaign for the addition of Normal modes, and I will continue to hold a great deal of disappointment and resentment about having to do it this way. And as someone who initially loved the zone, it’s really killing my motivation to keep going.

At the very least, they could allow for some way for the field notes, TT card and Sanguinite to be obtainable outside the Tower, since everyone has decided the support fate is too time-consuming to deal with.

[Supersnow845]

Posting the text of the digest here (italics mine):


The wording here leads me to believe it’s as I feared… not only was this another “oops it’s Savage” like CAR, the way they said Forked Tower, without specifying Blood or Magic, sounds like the “next large-scale dungeon” is whatever they do for the next field op. So we’ll have not one, but two, BA style raids and no normal dungeon instances at all for Occult Crescent.

So in other words, the content casuals were looking forward to all this time is capping off each zone with a Savage level dungeon.

I still think this is wrong, and while I know it would take time and resources, both versions of Forked Tower should have a Normal mode. While I personally will try to find a discord group to get me through it (eventually because of the unnecessary hassle of having to do so), I will continue to campaign for the addition of Normal modes, and I will continue to hold a great deal of disappointment and resentment about having to do it this way. And as someone who initially loved the zone, it’s really killing my motivation to keep going.

At the very least, they could allow for some way for the field notes, TT card and Sanguinite to be obtainable outside the Tower, since everyone has decided the support fate is too time-consuming to deal with.

I really don’t think when they said “forked tower” they meant blood AND magic. While we know that the other one will be magic we can’t even guarantee it will be called forked tower specifically

Regardless this just reads like “next raid will plan to have a normal” which is forked tower magic

[Khryseis_Astra]

I really don’t think when they said “forked tower” they meant blood AND magic. While we know that the other one will be magic we can’t even guarantee it will be called forked tower specifically

Regardless this just reads like “next raid will plan to have a normal” which is forked tower magic

I hope you’re right, but the name of the dungeon is “Forked Tower: Blood,” and the next will likely be “Forked Tower: Magic.” It reads to me like these are mirror images of each other; two halves of a whole. Guess it depends on how the devs see them: as one overall dungeon in two parts or as separate entities. They’re usually very careful in their wording/translation on these digests, which is why it takes so long after the LL for them to be posted.

At any rate, if they’re not going to do a Normal mode for both, they should look into things they can do so the zone isn’t totally ruined for those that can’t or don’t want to deal with the current Tower format. Some ideas would be an exploratory mode like I suggested a few pages back to allow all five field notes to be collected. I’m sure even those that clear the Tower would appreciate being able to go back in for gpose purposes, since you probably don’t have much time in there after the last boss before the instance timer runs out. I would also add the TT card to the Sanguinite shop for a modest amount, maybe 10, like the furnishings that are Sanguinite exclusive and don’t drop from zone chests. And finally, added incentive to spawn the support fate for those outside the Tower. With the way they’re fixing the instances, it should NOT be made mandatory, because it will now be possible to have an empty instance for just the Tower alliance. But they should beef up the rewards for both inside and outside, to overcome the current trend of groups skipping it altogether. Maybe 5 Sanguinite outside (adjusting for the rarity of seeing the support fate at all), and extra for the Tower group plus maybe some gold to add to the chests.

[Infindox]

At the very least, they could allow for some way for the field notes, TT card and Sanguinite to be obtainable outside the Tower, since everyone has decided the support fate is too time-consuming to deal with.

Hoping they treat the field notes and TT card like they did past areas like this and slap them as another method (for instance, all the harder to get TT cards in Eureka are on an NPC in Kugane, all you need to do is unlock access to Hydratos to be able to play for them.) Not sure how they would implement the field notes, but if they decide to make a mount for getting all those again, there will probably be backlash. (The notes aren't guaranteed drop right? Even people running FT at least once for the mount will be annoyed about it if there's not another option)

[FuturePastNow]

"we believe the difficulty level overshot what players were expecting before release" is an absurd statement that tells me their battle content team needs a shorter leash

[Khryseis_Astra]

Hoping they treat the field notes and TT card like they did past areas like this and slap them as another method (for instance, all the harder to get TT cards in Eureka are on an NPC in Kugane, all you need to do is unlock access to Hydratos to be able to play for them.) Not sure how they would implement the field notes, but if they decide to make a mount for getting all those again, there will probably be backlash. (The notes aren't guaranteed drop right? Even people running FT at least once for the mount will be annoyed about it if there's not another option)

From what I saw on a wiki, 4 currently drop from chests; don’t know if they’re random or guaranteed drops. Wording is “obtained from a personal spoils coffer after defeating X.” Maybe someone who has completed the Tower can clarify. The last one is a survey point in the dungeon’s final room.

An NPC for the Triad card could work, assuming they add a card to the Magic tower as well. I doubt they’d create an NPC for just one card. Eureka had 4 iirc. Bozja’s cards were purchaseable with the clusters, so that’s why I suggested the Sanguinite shop.

[Daralii]

Hoping they treat the field notes and TT card like they did past areas like this and slap them as another method (for instance, all the harder to get TT cards in Eureka are on an NPC in Kugane, all you need to do is unlock access to Hydratos to be able to play for them.) Not sure how they would implement the field notes, but if they decide to make a mount for getting all those again, there will probably be backlash. (The notes aren't guaranteed drop right? Even people running FT at least once for the mount will be annoyed about it if there's not another option)

The final one(#30) is a survey point in the final room, not a drop. Unless we get to explore that room as part of a quest at some point, you'll still need to clear FT:B.

[FuturePastNow]

CLL and Dalriada are the only things that proved both 1) popular and 2) engaging in the whole history of field exploratory content.

So popular they put the Deinonychus and Gabriel Mk III in OC bronze chests to make them worthless.