Originally Posted by
wereotter
The thing here is that the quest for the initial weapon took place outside of the exploratory zone with a trial you had to do, also outside of the zone. So it's fair to assume that, like the Heavensward weapon, the story would be tied to the strengthening of the weapon, but not required to advance the story on the frontlines.
As was stated, it just wasn't well communicated. Yes I'll give you your logic of having to do it, but you also have to see that if you're going off what you were told that you do and don't have to do, then you could have thought it was okay to take a pass on the content. This is especially true for those of us who didn't enjoy the exploratory zone content. You see the announcement you don't have to do it to strengthen your weapon, and so you skip it, only then to be blindsided when you find out this optional content is actually required. (Think Tetra Master in Final Fantasy IX. It was optional the entire game, never telegraphed to be required, then out of no where you have to win first place in the card tournament in Treno to advance the story. This wasn't a problem if you chose to play the card game leading up to that point, but was a major stumbling block for players who did not.)