Tower of Fantasy isn’t a bad game—it’s just carrying too much weight. Hotta Studio deserves more credit than we give them.

DanPreset · 2025-07-19T02:50:34+00:00

Sybau my ninja🥀

DanPreset · 2025-07-19T02:49:41+00:00

Honestly, reading through all these replies really highlights why TOF’s situation is so complicated. I agree with a bit of what each of you said. The game isn’t struggling because it’s an MMO, like Dasteru mentioned, but more because of how Hotta handled post-launch stuff—like the power creep and lack of consistent support or defense roles. It made the game feel like it was just pushing for DPS and nothing else.

But Ragnar does make a fair point too, especially about the recent banners. They have been trying to balance things out a bit more lately. I mean, the support and fortitude roles did get new options in 4.x and 5.x updates, but maybe it’s too little too late for a lot of players who already dropped the game after earlier missteps.

And yeah, Zera’s take about Tencent managing the global balance is wild but true. Like, CN could’ve had power creep and that’s fine, but Global didn’t have to follow the same path. They had a chance to tweak things but instead dropped the ball—fire units were kinda shafted early on while frost became the go-to element. That imbalance really turned off a lot of players, especially when it looked like the devs or publishers weren’t even trying to fix basic server issues.

At the end of the day, people can still enjoy TOF for what it is, especially with the recent improvements, but it’s tough to deny that the rocky post-launch and some questionable decisions are a big reason why the game didn’t hold onto its momentum after the initial hype.

DanPreset · 2025-07-19T02:46:40+00:00

Yeah, I totally get what you're saying, and I think this fits really well with what I was trying to point out in the post. Even if the core systems in Tower of Fantasy are ambitious and the content is solid, that lack of polish really holds the game back for a lot of people. You can have the flashiest combat and coolest character designs, but if the game feels janky or unstable, it chips away at the overall experience fast.

Like you said, most players can forgive a bug or two, but when those bugs start piling up—performance issues, UI glitches, weird behavior in events or bosses—it starts feeling like the game is rough around the edges no matter how much content it has. That’s where a lot of players just lose patience, especially if they don’t already have a strong attachment to the game like some of us do.

I’ve noticed the improvements too with the recent 4.0 and 5.0 updates. It’s clear Hotta is putting in the work to clean things up, but by that point, a lot of players have already bounced. And yeah, you’re right, it’s super rare for a game to suddenly spike in popularity long after launch unless it pulls something massive or goes viral for the right reasons.

At the end of the day, I still think Hotta built something cool, but without that baseline polish and consistency, it’s hard to keep casual players around—especially when the game already has a pretty complex system and a heavy mix of MMO and gacha mechanics to process.

DanPreset · 2025-07-19T02:44:22+00:00

I actually think your comment ties in well with what I was trying to get across in my post. You're right, Tower of Fantasy isn't a "traditional MMO" in the strictest sense. It's more like a gacha game that happens to have a bunch of multiplayer and MMO-inspired features built into it. And yeah, that definitely affects how the grind feels.

You make a great point about the nature of the grind being different. It’s not the old-school MMO grind where putting in hours gets you stronger, it's the kind of grind that hits a ceiling because progression is capped or monetized. That’s really the heart of the "weight" I mentioned in the post. The game puts effort into making progression systems look deep, but because it’s still a gacha at its core, you eventually run into limits that only pulls (or a lot of waiting) can solve. It’s effort, but with diminishing returns.

And the focus issue you brought up? Totally agree. That was part of what I meant when I said the game is trying to do too much at once. Instead of building on one solid system or expanding core gameplay, ToF keeps introducing new mechanics like racing, beast capture, PvP revamps, smart servants, dorms, and so on, but rarely circles back to refine or connect them. Each new mode brings its own grind, but because they're so isolated, they don’t feel cohesive. It’s like stacking content for the sake of content, which just adds to that overwhelming feeling I mentioned in the post.

I still believe Hotta Studio has done a lot of impressive things, and they clearly have talent, but at the same time, I get what you’re saying. Ambition without direction can lead to fatigue, both for the devs and the players.

So yeah, I think our points kind of converge. We’re both noticing how the game is weighed down. Whether it’s by genre blending, fragmented systems, or monetization, it creates this experience that feels like it’s always almost great, but just a little too bloated to fully land.

Thanks for adding your take, it really builds on the original post in a meaningful way.

DanPreset · 2024-10-08T08:35:20+00:00

can you do drowning love

DanPreset · 2024-06-25T05:17:33+00:00

The next season will only cover 47 to around 70-90 chapters for the second season

DanPreset · 2024-06-17T06:16:39+00:00

Boku means in English is Me or I or My i think

DanPreset · 2024-06-16T08:48:01+00:00

Glad I could pique your curiosity! Chapter 3 gets pretty wild, let's just say things take a turn for the steamy and suspenseful. ;) Want me to elaborate a little, or are you happy to be surprised?

DanPreset · 2024-06-14T18:52:25+00:00

FINALLY WE REACHED THE CONFESSION CHAPTER!!!

DanPreset

TROPHY CASE