Level 99 Relic, Mythic, Empyrean, and WoE Weapons

[Alhanelem]

Frankly I hated the absurd difficulty of afterglows when the originally came out and had hope they would be nerfed. If it's so extreme that you needed 2 upgrade paths to begin with (e.g. being able to upgrade to afterglow either first or after upgrading non-afterglow to max), it was too much. Knowing that I will need to face some kind of super extreme upgrade path because I didn't have a billion gazillion gil (or enough time on my hands to kill arch dynamis lord 78234683274 times) really puts me off. I shouldn't be forced into doing the work of an afterglow to bring the basic stats of the weapon up to snuff- I already put countless hours into making just the non-afterglow weapon.

Make seperate paths for afterglow and non afterglow, or don't do it at all. Or, make the difficulty the same for everyone and when you're done, award the afterglow or nonafterglow version of an item based on whether or not they had one when you started. I don't understand why this can't be a quest variable instead of part of the item data.

I'm sure everyone here would have gladly waited longer for the fairer method. Am I really far off base here?

[Jerbob]

Exactly. What was the point in providing two paths in the first place if they're going to combine them now? I don't want my weapon to glow, I just want it to be better than a weapon that drops from a mob that costs 50,000 accolades to pop.

Please give us two paths. If I'm going to have to complete a "Great Task" for something I don't actually want then I doubt I'm going to be even remotely motivated to do it.

Appreciate the information updates, Grekumah.

[Ranky]

Originally Afterglow was an option that players had the option of partaking in and was considered to be an activity for a very dedicated individual (considering items needed for any of the Ultimate weapons was 1 drop at a time, 2 if lucky). Now with this update, like many have stated, the "option" has been removed due to a convenience factor for developers still set to program an older game. Not only is this being a factor pushed to everyone, the fact that realistically no information on the upgrade process is given which is completely ridiculous due to affecting "player activity" changing is strictly petty as well. You have a player base who for all intents wants to bring an (or more, as some players have multiple ultimate weapons) item up to snuff for current content, but because the means to make such an upgrade path is conceivably already accessible to the player base you won't release a small insight into the process?

For all intents and purposes it could be the need to obtain Job Master status on a job that can use the weapon and then be able to dump x amount of Job Points into a system similar to the Goblin Pot in Reisenjima. If this was the case, this at least gives players direction to use their time AND maximize current limited time campaigns such as the current CP and EXP boost for chains. (On a side note, I completely believe that this to whatever degree is how the upgrade is going to be implemented, add an item to fetch/KI to get from w/e mob, as otherwise there is no reason at this time to not lock CP from being stored after you hit job master. Just my personal thoughts.) If the upgrade involves obtaining a new item that is determined to drop from newer/older content, just say so...doesn't hurt and in facts it helps reassure player base what route your intentions are headed for the future of the game as well.

Also, considering the fact that afterglow is something everyone who invests the time to go through this top secret process to obtain, maybe outside of just re-working aftermath mechanics on some of the weapon skills you can also implement a more realistic update to the afterglow effect. Instead of being a base 30 second effect bubble, maybe tier the effect like aftermath is implemented. This way it's actually beneficial to players/trusts(if even applicable) and would allow you to overwrite lower level afterglows you may set.

Example: Mythic Afterglow 100tp:+15 attack, 30 sec; 200tp: +30 attack, 1min; 300tp: +45 attack, 1:30min

[Cblade]

So let me get this straight. You are going to force people who have gone through the trials and tribulations to get their REM to 119 to afterglow them to make them useful? An alliance could create an aeonic for each member 6-10 times, meaning 50-near 200 aeonics created due to alliance all getting one if they all did the trials together (based on time required, and depending on trials after the kill all nm's, as I am not sure if there are any/what they are if so; the time I have is based on time to go through all steps to all nm's defeated) before 1 REM gets afterglow (and that is if that 1 REM holder can get help from others to get the items for 119-119 afterglow), and you find this fair? Players who have a 119 REM deserve a free upgrade, but we are willing to do a quest that is reasonable. Afterglows were never reasonable, but that was the point of them. They have always been a vanity item to show off how rich you were for the most part due to the insane requirements for one. REM's already almost got destroyed before being updated with more quests to 99 and above, and many are still weaker than other much more easily obtained weapons. If afterglow is required, there will be nearly 0 rem's being used, and it would be done to save you time? That is not only a horrible business model, but it is a slap in the face of all players, REM holders or not.

[Angemon]

They should separate the trials, afterglow and non-afterglow.

[Shirai]

From what I understand, not entirely.

In the end, all weapons (unsure about the Ergons) will have afterglow, however it will not be a requirement to start the quest.
People that already own an afterglow weapon will have an easier objective in said quest to upgrade their weapons than those that haven't.
As I see it, there's going to be an alternative path for upgrading to Afterglow, however right now they are not disclosing what this path will entail.

As I fear right now there are two scenarios.
- Afterglow owners are going to be feeling betrayed. (Trust me, I have some nastier words in mind.)
- Non-Afterglow owners are not going to bother.

My current expectation is that there are going to be a lot of angry Afterglow owners.

And personally, while I do understand the reasoning, I too feel more for having two seperate paths.

[Vold]

So basically this is the trial for obtaining ultimate RME:

1)Farm afterglow
2)Take 1 hour to upgrade

or

1)Farm afterglow in alternative fashion
2)Take 1 hour to upgrade

So we're being made to farm an afterglow whether we like it or not. Nice. Look, if I cared about glowing weapons I'd still be playing XIV. Take longer and give us the two paths. It's guaranteed to make both non afterglow and afterglow owners happy. There's no reason we both can't take 1 hour to upgrade.

I just want to point out, we aren't objecting to this "do a ton of work" idea. We're objecting to the idea that the 30 afterglow owners get a free ride while we spend who knows how long to catch up because we didn't care to farm or buy 250 marrows for a glow effect. If everyone had to do a ton of work, afterglow or no afterglow, there wouldn't be a problem besides the whole issue of difficulty in comparison to aeonics. Is this not a problem to your JP base? Because I half expected the next word I would hear about it is how you are reconsidering the decision. Apparently the JP are on board for this. God knows you're not going to reconsider squat based on our objections.

[Shirai]

I think it's going to be more like this:

Shiny:
-Bring me 100 [insert whatever SE's planning]

Not shiny:
-Bring me 100.000 [insert whatever SE's planning]

I think however that the "Bring 100.000 [insert whatever SE's planning]" is going to take less than half the effort it takes to do it the intended way.
If SE's going to continue this plan of action they have to, because otherwise the majority will even bother doing it, especially people that own multiple R/E/M weapons.

But I expect that it is going to create some backlash from the people that have an Afterglowed weapon.

[machini]

There is a reason people do not have afterglow, because it's insanely tedious to get, and allows the... perfectionists something to do for bragging rights.

If the amount of work I am going to have to put in to upgrade my mythic to its 'final form' approaches afterglow, then I think that's it right there. Hanging it up, closing my accounts, finding something new to do with my life.

There needs to be a non-afterglow version.

[Rakshaka]

If we were to provide the methods for upgrading Relic/Mythic/Empyrean/Ergon weapons this would certainly affect player behavior, and as such, we cannot offer this information yet.

This means that the means to upgrade non-afterglow weapons to afterglow weapons is currently collectible in-game. Or, at the very least, we're able to do some steps in preparation for the update at this time. Some ideas about what we can collect NOW to upgrade this include: potpourri(merit points deposited at the goblin), job points, silt, beads, and Tumult's Blood.

Does anyone have any other ideas about what we could be collecting now for this upgrade?

If the amount of work I am going to have to put in to upgrade my mythic to its 'final form' approaches afterglow, then I think that's it right there. Hanging it up, closing my accounts, finding something new to do with my life.

Or, just don't upgrade it if it's too much work, and keep playing as you always have. Think of this final upgrade not as another free REM upgrade, but as an equivalent of an afterglow upgrade, because that's what it is really. This may very well take as much time and effort as it did to make the original afterglows; don't go into this expecting anything less.