Unlocking Empyrean Weapons

I've been working through the Empyrean weapon trials recently, and I think some of the older NM trials desperately need to be revisited.

I want to be clear: I'm not asking for Empyrean weapons to become quick or easy to obtain. They're legendary weapons, and there should absolutely be a meaningful grind involved.

But waiting several hours for a lottery NM to spawn isn't difficult. It isn't challenging content. There is no mechanic to overcome, no fight to master, and no way to improve your efficiency through better play. You're simply waiting for RNG to decide that you're allowed to continue.

Okyupete is a perfect example. The trial requires 4 kills, yet individual spawns can take several hours while repeatedly killing the same placeholder. Potentially spending hours waiting for an NM that dies in seconds, only to repeat that process four times, feels less like progression and more like an outdated time sink.

These mechanics made more sense when this content was current and the game operated very differently. In 2026, I think the early Empyrean trials could be modernized without trivializing the process.

Reduce the required lottery NM kills to 1 per NM, significantly increase their spawn rates, or put a reasonable maximum on how long they can take to spawn.

Keep the Abyssea farming. Keep the item requirements. Keep the investment required to build an Empyrean weapon.

I'm not asking for the process to be quick or easy. I'm asking for the time spent working toward these weapons to feel productive.

There is a difference between a grind and simply wasting the player's time.

I would add to the list of potential changes:
Weapon past the lottery spawn NM stage that costs significant gil.

I would also like to see Kupon I-Aby added to ambuscade monthly rewards. maybe 10 copies per month, that way JUST doing ambu, it would take 9 months to make a weapon, OR you could reforge a bunch of armor each month.

I was going to say, make it 1 K.O. required before you said it too, heh, but I would not necessarily increase their spawn rates then. But I might be used to the 11++ or more hours of them...

All in all I'm more squinty-eyed at the required items after, which can just be bought as long as there are providers (and well, for some things it's pretty much the only way reasonable).

See also:

Do you think it's time to simplify the Ultimate Weapon creation process?

I recently brought 4 weapons to the empyrean stage, 2 are now lv.80 empyreans, 1 is lv85, and the last is done with VNMs but still lv.75.

Yes, these trials suck. I would pay 50m per weapon to just start at the VNM stage. I don't know about anyone else.

The only change absolutely needed, get rid off those times Abyssea NM, force spawn is fine but timed on overcrowned ? 2 month to get 6/50 cirein-croin lantern is insane.

I agree it needs an overhaul. The Kupon i-aby only gives 2 items that you need to upgrade to get those 50 items you need. It sucks. At least let us buy the KI needed to spawn the mobs like Chloris, so we can quick farm them & make the NMs drop 5 or more of the items, not just one or two. These need a quicker way to upgrade.