1) We do agree on this.

2) According to the Census it was 6,640 relics at the time of the Census compared to 3.985 the previous year. http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/gui...nsus/10/4.html I'm not sure where you got the 32,000 empyrean number from. It was 27k ish at the time of the Census so that number is probably right or too low. I wouldn't be surprised if there was 10k+ relics at least by now. Still no where near 32k but give it time, relic popularity has gone up recently especially since 90 and 95 trials made many relics equal to if not better than their empyrean counterparts.

As for the gil hurdle on relics, you can solo farm a relic to 75 in a few months time, there's no gil requirement, and you only need help with the attestation/fragment parts and even those are soloable for some people. People only spend gil because it takes less time to make gil than farm the currency. Empyreans are easy to 90. I don't think anyone would argue against that. Relics are also easy. They only take longer because you're limited to 2hrs of dynamis a day while you can spend as much time in abyssea as you have stones for / get TE's. Both weapons are free if you want them to be and saying "I spent 120 mil on a relic, therefore empyreans should spend 150mil on one trial." doesn't add up to me. It makes no sense to have a huge road block in empyrean weapons two trials after you get the weapon skill/aftermath.

Sorry, that was a bit of a rant.

3) I agree. On the whole, relics are easier to get to 95 than empyreans. They also cost less gil if you chose to go that route. So I guess relics are the easier weapons? The 99 trial remains to be seen. Which is the whole point of this thread. I highly doubt SE is going to ease up on any of the trial requirements than they already have no matter how much we gripe.