So I'm taking one of my alts through the last Fighter's Guild quest, "Prismatic Core." This is the 4th time for me. Although I didn't much enjoy the mini-game with the forge and Merric coaching me into giving him just the right heat, using the forge controls, the first three times, still, it was something interesting, and if you screw it up badly enough, you have to start over, which actually happened once.

But that whole minigame/puzzle thing is gone, apparently, at least it was when I did the quest yesterday. Another ninja update?

And once the weapon was forged, there were three waves of skeletons and dremora and finally a litch mini-boss if I remember correctly.

All of that was gone, too. You go directly from "the weapon is ready" to going through the open portal.

Now there are more mobs in the next segment, and they keep spawning (which provides a nice grinding opportunity if you're into that), but really, what happened to the first part?

I've read the release notes, I didn't see any mention that the quest had been nerfed shortened.

I just don't understand. Is there a move afoot to reserve all challenge for the endgame? Or was it just bugged for too many people?

Not a big deal; just curious.