Ok...let me level with you here SE...

[Vold]

I love that "completionists" sounds like a polite euphemism in the last paragraph. I can imagine the developers seeing that some poor soul has completed an afterglow weapon, looking at each other with amused expressions, then cheerfully declaring that the King of all NEETs has claimed his lonesome throne.

They'll begin to debate whether such a throne is made of out Mikuru Asahina love pillows or Mami Tomoe love pillows, battle lines will be drawn, and even less work than usual will get done that day.

I predict if all of this stays true then the first person who pulls it off will have earned the right to be singled out by SE and congratulated for all to see on POL. Kind of like how they did that business for whatsitsname server and their long streak of undefeated wins in besieged(sorry but it wasn't important enough for me to remember jack about it except it was 2000 wins in a row or some deal) until SE opened their mouths and ruined everything by jinxing them. So they'll announce the one person who was first and people will know them and then say, cool grats brah let me see what it can do! ... thanks for the aura stat boost, brah. Sucks to be you. But hey you glow. Beats having a real life! And it only cost a billion gil. And I get the benefits of all that work. Damn brah, you generous.

[Frost]

I’d like to share the developers’ thoughts and plan for these new trials and upgrades.

When it comes to the first stage of upgrades for relic/mythic/empyrean weapons, this is considered to be the weapon’s complete form and is also the one the developers expect most players can achieve. They don’t want to dangle a carrot in front of everyone saying, “you can make these weapons even more powerful!” and then make it so only small fraction of players achieve this.

On the other hand, as some of you have already mentioned, the second stage of these weapon enhancements is left for those players who wish to go above and beyond—the “completionists” so to speak. This is why there will be no difference in weapon skill damage or other stats and only an AoE benefit as well as a special effect will be given for completing this upgrade.

Interesting words chosen here; I'd say deliberate. Well played sir. (No Sarcasm)

Is there any way we could get just a tiny bit more "oomf" in the current "Final Form"? Yes I've seen the stats and such, and no I haven't checked em out on the test server, but could you just toss a cherry on top and give the aftermaths a little more potency?

Y'all were able to make some last minute changes to things like Bully and Scarlet Delirium, maybe a tiny bit of love on those aftermaths? You know, to make em, well, noticeable?

[Kraggy]

wish all the casuals would stop crying about this. be happy they gonna let you have a lv 99. who cares if you dont get the after glow. and yes there will people doing it no matter how absurd the trial is. Finally weapons that every casual won't have.

It's people like you that make end-game here sometimes so painful, feeling so superior over others who don't share your fixation on phat lewt for its own sake.

[Zhronne]

They don’t want to dangle a carrot in front of everyone saying, “you can make these weapons even more powerful!” and then make it so only small fraction of players achieve this.

Yet this is exactely what happened with Empyreal Weapons trial from 90 to 95, isn't it?

[DrStrangelove]

Right now, there's no real incentive for a player to want to do it.

It's a freaking hard quest for limited value to YOU. So, don't do it. Problem solved.

[Alerith]

It's a freaking hard quest for limited value to YOU. So, don't do it. Problem solved.

I don't intend to do it. The problem isn't whether I want to do it or not. It's the fact that there is no purpose for anyone else to want to do it either, short of completion's sake.

While that's all good and fine, my heart bleeds for those people because the trial doesn't justify what they're trying to achieve.

[Zhronne]

Arguably, there's a whole ton of things that do not justify the effort required. It all depends on points of view I guess.
It sure looks pointless and preposterous to me (they should at least make so the sphere effects affects the wielder as well!), but if someone wants to do it who are we to judge his will as "wrong"?

[Creelo]

They should really at least make Afterglow a separate buff from Aftermath so that it can stack with other player's Aftermath, considering how marginal Afterglow is... :/

[Prothscar]

Imo all spheres should be user targeted as well... but these especially.

[Helel]

Let me put this way: anyone who completes the stage 2 trial is an absolute moron. You're losing 2.5m potential gil every dynamis run you fight ADL instead of farming currency. Multiply that by the number of times you'll need to kill him for every person in the alliance, and you could have completed every relic weapon up to level 99... instead glowing blue.

The auras are nothing more than a /point and laugh at how stupid someone is for actually having completed the trial.