Variant, Advanced and Criterion dungeon - The Merchant's Tale

[MediArgentum]

Good time of the day to you, dear players and developers!

In this post, I would like to provide feedback and express my thoughts regarding the new dungeon - The Merchant's Tale, added in patch 7.45;

There will be positives and negatives to talk about but rest assured that I will remain respectful and polite, and try to give it a fair shake, as much as I can.

Variant
I think it's only natural if I start by saying that I liked the dungeon itself. The exploration and discovering of the branching paths, different boss encounters (or same bosses with different mechanics), as well as the side story itself about venturing inside the book's pages with Y'shtola's sister as our companion, was very cool and interesting. I liked the areas a lot too, looks very nice. Even the maiden's room looks nice and cozy! Very good vibes.
The rewards for the variant version of this dungeon are also pretty good, I like the glamour we can get from it and the emote. So far so good!

Advanced
I was pleasantly surprised by my first impression of the Advanced version of this dungeon. I was expecting the bosses in the Advanced version would only be slightly harder than the Variant version, but they were noticeably harder (at least, this was my first impression).
I thought it was a good balance between not too easy and not too hard! I liked that very much.
I also like that we can take on bosses in any order in the Advanced version and choose to end the duty if we don't want the other bosses. Such options where players get to decide these sorts of things are always welcome!
As for the rewards from the Advanced version, there are a few more collectibles we can obtain from here. So far so good!

(Continued in the comment below due to character limit in a single post.)

[MediArgentum]

Criterion
In my opinion, the removal of the trash packs from Criterions was a good choice. A gauntlet of bosses sounds more fun to me. And the encounters seem fun as well!
There is, however, a glaring issue with Criterion version specifically: the non-permanent rewards. It has a collectible or three to get, but more than that, no incentive to do this content on a weekly basis for the remainder of the patch. Or in this case, for the remainder of the expansion.

I feel like this is a very big missed opportunity. To me, it feels like the Criterion dungeons would be a perfect place to implement an alternative gearing track, equivalent to the gear you get from Savage raids (in terms of item level). It could offer any one of these or similar things to these:

• New gear with similar item level to 7.4's Savage raid gear (790), but with different substats.
• Book I, II, III and/or IV.
• Solvent, Twine, Glaze, Ester, etc. - the upgrade materials for the tome gear and weapons.

It doesn't have to shower the players with all of these rewards, merely some of them, or something equivalent to these. With a weekly restriction, of course.
The few collectible rewards that are obtainable only from the Criterion version are fine, but I really think this needs more permanent rewards on a weekly basis, ideally as an alternative gearing track accompanying the corresponding Savage raid tier.

[Voidmage]

I haven't done Advanced yet and am still in the process of doing all routes but have seen all bosses by now.

Normal Variant is pretty fun, a usual Variant dungeon in mechanics which imo is a good state to be in.
I liked the bosses themselves and outside the djinn the first time actually do like that they rely less on "gotcha mechanics" this time and are more advanced mechanics of previous things.
For better lack of a word, it seems "fairer" this time around and less "cheap"?

The visuals are definitely the best thing and something else from the usual things. It feels like something new tried for a change and as of this moment I like "how" we go through it like helping carrying things and such.
It's also a nice story this time instead of simply independent things. Both are good but it's a nice difference.
Y'nazqha is a nice addition and I like how she feels as a character and the rewards also are good in the normal mode.
Though I do have to say that fashion accessories more often than not seem like a "cheap" reward given they are mostly just recolours or no one really uses them.
I also don't like that they still add those ribbon thingies there and don't even know anymore what I should do with Materia. The game really needs a new form of rewards in general.

From what I have seen of Advanced in some videos it seems like an actual balance between the normal mode and Criterion this time, though I have to get my own experience first to get a final opinion.
Having another middle difficulty instead of an "ultimate" this time is way better though imo.
Regarding the Criterion rewards... well, I will never do it so I only have my personal opinion which doesn't matter.

So for me, the Variant so far seems really good. A cool middle ground for normal players to have fun for a change, together with Pilgrims, instead of sitting at the sidelines and wondering when the devs throw some scraps towards them.
I just wish they would take the things they learn from Variants like the Thrash mobs and actually implement it in normal dungeons or such. I feel it's a waste for the visuals, mechanics and gameplay to go to waste.

[Vaati_Kigu]

Dungeon and story with the it are fun, but can we please stop locking things away from the casual crowd. some of us lack the free time or skill or resources to do the savage content, and its very disappointing. What hurt is you would think you get a mount for clearing all paths but you don't. I wont say what you get but its not worth it. I ask either allow us at a later date to unsync these things so those of us who can't put in the hour and hours to do the harder content or give the casual people away to get these things too.

In the end I enjoyed it. just lately due to life endlessness I lack the time to really do the harder content.

Thank you.

[AngelMercury]

Criterion - Please Please, give us an alternate way to get upgrade matts before the ulti patch. This was a missed opportunity. It will take me almost the entire patch to get BiS for ONE job because yes my pf luck has been pretty bad. My friends who want to gear alt jobs are suffering. Folks who were walled for more than a week on Tyrant are suffering. A weekly chance at an additional twine would have been everything to a lot of raiders. It feels like there's a huge disconnect in what the CS3 team sees as meaningful rewards and what players want. My only hope is that when we hit 7.5 they'll open this option to be inline with the Alliance raid coins, but I'm really doubtful, and even then that leaves very little time before the hopeful ulti release for players to gear their alt jobs. Chaotic did a nice job with this have alternate gear, it feels like Variant/Criterion, which is also great content, has taken a step backwards again.

The current rewards are good rewards, they're just missing a few pieces to make repeat play of the content worth while. I wish the team wasn't so afraid to mix things up and risk giving players 'too much.'

[MediArgentum]

The current rewards are good rewards, they're just missing a few pieces to make repeat play of the content worth while. I wish the team wasn't so afraid to mix things up and risk giving players 'too much.'

Agreed. This game is nowhere close to having rewards that are "too good". I really wish the developers stopped being so stubborn about gatekeeping Savage item level. Give us an alternative gearing track. Criterion is perfect for that.
In my opinion, even 7.5's alliance raid should drop ilevel 790 gear. Not 780. Yes, it will give us a new coin, which in combination with the previous two alliance raid's coins, will allow us to get tome upgrades once a week, but still, it's an entire patch away!

[Alice_Rivers]

I'm more than a little disappointed actually in this variant dungeon's bosses mostly in that the choices you make during the run affect just one mechanic. When doing it solo that can mean one mechanic in six minutes or more of boss fight changes, which is terribly disappointing, it almost begs the question "what's the point?".

[Valence]

Happy that advanced seems to finally target a much required difficulty level a lot of people asked for.

Very unhappy about the way trash is treated in this game overall and how they're turning everything into bosses in an arena types of fights.

[Xemsi]

Hihi
Just submitting this as feedback for the current Variant/Criterion dungeon:
Square Enix, please allow the Advanced/Criterion Currency of The Merchant's Tale (and future Advanced/Criterion Dungeons) to buy the upgrade materials (Twine/Glaze/Solvent) for Tomestone weapons.
Thank you!

[jwingert1019]

I don't have an FC or a group to play with, so my friend and I end up duoing most things. Hard content sometimes feels inaccessible, because raid groups have schedules thay always clash with work, and public groups always want people to watch videos. I'm more into blind progging and learning. My friend and I spent an evening learning Merchant's Tale Advanced with just two. Some of the most fun I've had playing the game. If there's a future for more accessible difficult content I'm all for it.