Would a Mage Tower type instance appeal to the everyday player.

I think this is a classic case of misunderstanding between Dygz and anyone else Mag. I think Dygz is talking about purely visuals of an instanced dungeon, while Mag is talking about the functionality of the dungeon, which I assume is a repeatedly farmable dungeon where you get some semi-good rewards (haven't played WoW so dunno what exactly Mage Tower means).

I think the main issue here is the comparison to Mage Tower, and from what I've quickly googled, it seems like Mage Tower was a grindable instance. So when the OP is asking for 'mage tower type instance", to most people that sounds like a "repeatable grindable instance". Which goes directly against AoC's design.

Will Ashes have some solo instances? Yes. Would they be anywhere near a "mage tower instance"? From what I understand of that thing - no.

And to me when someone says "I only have 30 mins to play, but want meaningful drops from a solo instance" - that's not a small cosmetic, that's a good piece of gear for barely any work. And I'm assuming that's Mag's take on that line too. Obviously Dygz' take is different. And this brings even more disagreement on the issue.