Final Fantasy 14’s newest high-level raid, the Forked Tower, has seen an alarmingly low number of clears since its debut within the Occult Crescent exploration zone. Despite being part of content designed to appeal to midcore players, the raid’s difficulty and accessibility issues have resulted in it being completed by a tiny fraction of the player base. Adding to player frustration, developers initially cited “cost” as the reason for not providing an easier difficulty version, a justification that many find baffling given FF14’s status as a major earner for publisher Square Enix.
The Forked Tower Challenge
Introduced in a recent patch, the Forked Tower is designed for up to 48 players within the Occult Crescent. It demands significant coordination and punishes failure severely, effectively operating solely at a high difficulty level akin to a “Savage” raid. This design choice stands in contrast to previous similar content, such as the Delubrum Reginae raid found in the Bozja zone from the Shadowbringers era, which was released with both a challenging Normal version accessible via standard queuing and a harder Savage version.
Alarming Clear Statistics
The impact of this approach is starkly illustrated by official data. During a recent livestream, FF14 Producer and Director Naoki Yoshida (Yoshi-P) revealed that the Forked Tower had been cleared only around 400 times in the 23 days following its release.
To put this into perspective, even assuming every clear involved a full 48-player party (which is unlikely in practice), this amounts to a maximum of approximately 19,200 player completions. When compared to unofficial but reputable estimates placing the active FFXIV player base at around 950,000, this means at most only about 2% of active players have successfully completed the Forked Tower raid.
Beyond the Fight: Access Barriers
Compounding the difficulty is a significant barrier to even starting the raid: accessing the correct instance with a full 48-player group. Unlike previous content where players could queue directly for the raid, the Forked Tower requires players to first enter the general Occult Crescent instance in standard 8-player parties and then coordinate getting six of these parties into the same larger 48-player instance. This frustrating process has been dubbed “instance gacha” by players due to its reliance on luck and complex external coordination, consuming considerable time and deterring attempts. This accessibility issue is a major contributing factor to the low clear numbers, separate from the raid’s inherent difficulty.
The Baffling ‘Cost’ Justification
Initially, Yoshi-P explained the absence of a more accessible Normal version of the raid by citing “cost.” This explanation landed poorly with many players. Given that Final Fantasy 14 is consistently highlighted in Square Enix’s financial reports as a significant and profitable cornerstone of the company, the notion that budget constraints prevented the development of a standard feature like multiple difficulty levels for a raid aimed at a broad audience felt illogical and disheartening. Many argue it reflects a potential misallocation of resources or a continued prioritization issue within the development team, Creative Studio 3, especially concerning content aimed at casual-to-midcore players who had waited almost a year for this new exploration zone.
Developer Apology and Future Plans
In response to the significant player feedback and the clearly low engagement with the content, Yoshi-P has since issued an apology acknowledging a “lower quality of service” and the need for frequent hotfixes in the game’s current state. Addressing the Forked Tower specifically, he confirmed that the team will implement both Normal and Savage difficulties for future instances of Occult Crescent-style content.
Furthermore, Square Enix is implementing an immediate fix for the current Forked Tower access problem. In the upcoming Patch 7.3, scheduled for early August, the game will finally allow pre-formed 48-player alliances to queue directly into the necessary Occult Crescent instance, removing the frustrating “instance gacha.” While Yoshi-P noted this initial implementation might be “rough and ready,” it’s a crucial step towards improving accessibility for the existing raid.
Priorities and Player Sentiment
The situation with the Forked Tower has amplified ongoing player concerns about FFXIV’s content release strategy since the Endwalker expansion, with many feeling that midcore activities with long-term appeal have been sidelined in favor of high-end raids and Ultimates. The Occult Crescent and Cosmic Exploration were intended to fill this gap, but their initial implementation, particularly the Forked Tower’s difficulty and access, has negatively impacted community sentiment and contributed to declining recent review scores for the expansion on platforms like Steam.
Looking Ahead
While the initial release of the Forked Tower with a single, difficult mode and poor accessibility, justified by a questionable “cost” explanation, has been a source of frustration, the recent developer response offers a glimmer of hope. Acknowledging the issues and outlining concrete plans for both immediate access fixes and future content design suggests that Square Enix is listening to player feedback. The challenge now lies in successfully implementing these changes and demonstrating a renewed commitment to balancing content for the diverse Final Fantasy 14 player base.
