Forgotten gacha game Tower of Fantasy is launching a new server to de-RNG itself into a purer MMO

Tower of Fantasy is an interesting one: a mashup of gacha and MMO, all of the random monetisation bullshit, plus expecting you to *shudder* work together with strangers. Despite being a sicko for both genres, I'd never dare put them together in a single experience—like the two friend groups you very carefully plan individual events for, lest the two opposing sides of your personality collide in a fiery blaze of social faux pas.

While marrying two (in my opinion, rather opposing) styles of gameplay is what makes Tower of Fantasy stand out—because it sure is not the incredible Genshin-ness of it all—developer Hotta Studio is trying something new: it's launching what it calls a Warp server on November 25. One that rips the gacha out altogether in favour of bringing it a little closer to a traditional MMO experience.

As spotted by PCGamesN, the gacha-MMO hybrid will live on within its classic servers, with the Warp server removing the need to pull for weapons and characters. Instead, they'll be available the old fashioned way, by grinding like your life depends on it. It's also going real old-school MMO by centering the Warp server's economy around trading and auction halls.

"It's not just a new server; it's a revolution in the game," the game's announcement and FAQ page reads. "We hope to emphasize strategic depth, free trade, and seasonal updates in this game of adventure."

There's an interesting tidbit in there about equipment resets, too. "Game content and equipment are refreshed each season. Equipment stats stay in effect throughout the season and reset every new season. The development system and modes also update with each season."

It's not actually totally clear what exactly that means yet—information is sparse, even from the Warp server in China which has been kicking around for the last few months. It looks like any weapons you get will stick around but have their stats kneecapped every few months. Kind of like a weird reverse item level creep you see in other MMOs.

It's certainly an interesting approach to take, one that I'm not convinced will jumpstart a new wave of Tower of Fantasy hype. I'd certainly be lying if I said I wasn't a tiny bit interested though, but that's just the MMO-brained illness within me speaking.

I'm even less convinced this will do anything for the game's Steam rating, which right now is, er, not good. A lot of that appears to be down to the fact the game has changed hands since launching—Tencent dropped publishing the game last year, with Persona 5: The Phantom X publisher Perfect World taking over duties.

That ownership transfer came with putting the onus on players to manually transfer their accounts over or face having it deleted forever. It seems not everyone got the memo, unfortunately—the Steam reviews are currently littered with negative reviews from would-be returning players who've discovered that all of their progress has vanished.

Warp Server - Live Q&A | Tower of Fantasy - YouTube

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"I got no email for it whatsoever, no warning, no nothing. I wasn't even aware of this," one Steam review reads. "Came back to [Tower of Fantasy] this week and saw that my account was deleted (where I spent money!) because of some random account migration which was never communicated in official ways like emails," read another.

I wonder if many more will be returning in the wake of this new server, only to find their accounts zapped into the ether. I certainly don't envy any of them.