Relic Question: Why did it take so long to release?

First off, I am not doing the relic, so please save your snide comments for players complaining about the grind. What I am complaining about is something a little different.

What I wanna know, though, is why did it take Yoshi P. and Co. so long to release this content? After looking over what everyone is going to need to do to get their relic, almost everything was available during 3.0 launch. So, let's take a look and see what was available during launch.

Check all that apply:
FATE grinding for an item? Check.
2.5 Dungeon run through? Check.
3.0 Dungeon run through? Check.
Poetics Grind? Check.
Law Grind? Check.
Allied Seals Grind? Check.
2.x Beast Tribe vendors? Check.
Alexander Normal grind? Check.
Dragonskin Gathering Maps? Check.

3.1 Beast Tribe Vendors? X.
3.15 crafted items designed specifically for 3.15 relic weapons? X.

So, let's take a look at the two last items. We can exclude the specific items for crafters seeing that these items were designed with the relic in mind and nothing else. I am sure in the future we will use these items for other things, but these were designed primarily for the relic and could have been easily implemented in during 3.0. The Beast Tribe requirement is the only legitimate new content need for the relic weapon (I heard that there is some Diadem you can do for the relic too, but I couldn't find any info on it.)

Once again, why did it take so long for these weapons to be released?

Ya, with what was released today I have to wonder why it took so long to get these. Not to mention that having players whom didn't complete the zeta or whom chose not to turn theirs in to bypass this step, having them spend hours or more spamming fates to obtain a weapon that is equivalent to something that they could have gotten six months ago seems absurd to me.

Content filler before the holidays to give people "something" to do.

Thats my guess.

Realistically, it was probably late so they could buy time to the next update. That's also why it'll take at least two months to finish.

yeah, this doesn't at all feel like they couldn't have released it sooner. Rather they didn't want it released until now

BTW, I only did the relic quest up to Novus during 2.5 once there was nothing to do. That is my limited experience with the Relic.

Okay, so I am not the only one who's seeing this as a poor decisions on the developers part. Looking at it now, I think it would've have been much more rewarding for players to be able to hand in their Zeta at launch and once hitting 60 to get their ilvl 170 relic weapon, have the upgraded version for ilvl 190 during 3.1, and now have the grind part that nets you the ilvl 200-210 version (hinde sight is 20/20 of course). Instead, they are now front-loading everything on the player base, and at a time when the weapons really won't have a significant affect except for the glowing effect.

The reason I making a slight deal out of this is because I am really beginning to question the logistical side of the development team for this game. I found 2.x content (SCoB, FCoB, Relic weapons, and CT raids) to be really well designed for not having beta testers checking to see how certain content fans out (Hunts was a mess but was fixed pretty quickly). Now, though, I feel like they are flailing like madmen when it comes to how they are going to release content, and not really forecasting how it will affect future content and their player base.

And the reason for character limitation on forum posts still eludes me.

We all know the answer. They wanted to stretch content out as much as possible to keep people subscribed. Grimy business tactics.

Did you see the state of the instance servers right after 3.15 dropped? Filled to bursting. People were finding themselves in parties ready to go and waiting for instances to become available.

Imagine it that had happened when 3.1 launched.

simple reason. to give players something to strive for, while there is nothing else usefull or new to do. if they put it sooner, what would they put now? nothing

They should have launched the relics at 3.0 by the time we get that i210 Relic I bet SE will release higher item level gear and a Trial EX where i210+ weapons will drop so this will be crap.


Thanks SE... you're doing great :S

Why it was released so late? Cause if it were in at the launch of HW, the players would have done this while the zones/dungeons/etc still felt new... It was released at this time to force players back into content they've already completed. Why? There's a few possible options to pick from, but I'm leaning towards them just trying really hard to hide the fact that they arn't really doing anything new with this game, and that there's hardly any content worth doing (for alot of people) other than one raid.

I would guess it was released late so that they could release KotR EX with i205 weapons and call it a day as if that was sufficient motivation for anybody to run it more than once to begin with.

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Originally Posted by starLivitation

simple reason. to give players something to strive for, while there is nothing else usefull or new to do. if they put it sooner, what would they put now? nothing

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If they'd put it in sooner, the majority of players wouldn't have been half way through it yet.

Given that 3.2 is likely to drop around February/March most people won't be done with this stage by the time it goes live. People are gonna be spending the next couple of months grinding for a weapon that will be guaranteed to be outclassed by regular loot in the next patch. There's seriously no point in doing this relic because it's gonna take so long to finish for most players that they'll never actually get to use it!

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Originally Posted by starLivitation

simple reason. to give players something to strive for, while there is nothing else usefull or new to do. if they put it sooner, what would they put now? nothing

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This is incorrect; although I know what you mean.

First off, those that have Zeta already skip step 1, so that takes about 5 mins to do. And those that haven't done it will spend maybe a day or two grinding FATEs for Atmas. Having step one during launch, especially as an alternative weapon to the ilvl 170 law gear would've been fine. The second step is just a romp through some old dungeons. Even if this was released at 3.1, I am sure many players would still be doing this step. But even so, this step realistically takes little time. I am already seeing many players on my server with their Awoken weapon.

All we needed for 3.15, and for the holiday layover, was to have the final step. This step is the true meat and bone of the grind. See, this is where I am questioning the Devs. The first two steps couldv'e been released to old people over and get them excited about their relics. But now, instead, well, you see what is happening.

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Originally Posted by Belhi

Did you see the state of the instance servers right after 3.15 dropped? Filled to bursting. People were finding themselves in parties ready to go and waiting for instances to become available. Imagine it that had happened when 3.1 launched.

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Yes, actually I have been watching our PF here on Levi, and it is jammed with players running old dungeons and 3.0 FATEs. It is a sight for sore eyes especially being that PF has been dead for a few months. But, even so, this is content needed for the relic that has been out for over 5-6 months. Ya... thinking it over, it has given a little breath to FATEs and Dungeon running. (For me, personally, I dislike FATEs and Dungeons, so the relic grind is even further out of my grasp XP)

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Originally Posted by starLivitation

simple reason. to give players something to strive for, while there is nothing else usefull or new to do. if they put it sooner, what would they put now? nothing

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What about actual content?

Apparently weapon glow effects, weapon models, a few vendor adjustments, and turn-in items took months to "develop."

Everyone I knew got to the last step, did the research into what they needed to do... and instantly burned out. Nobody I knew was like "wow I look forward to this." We already grinded Alex Normal hundreds of times for our drops. We already grinded massive amounts of law and poetics. If you have access to the 2.X beastman dailies, then you already did that grind. We already did all this stuff before. And now, you'd have us do it all again? It's just insulting. When this is what we have to look forward to, how are people not supposed to burn out and quit?

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Originally Posted by starLivitation

simple reason. to give players something to strive for, while there is nothing else usefull or new to do. if they put it sooner, what would they put now? nothing

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How does this answer why there wasn't more work put into it? they put no effort at all into making it.

Or maybe they do not wanna ppl have that big adventage progress alexander with ilvl 210 weapon? Would be pretty unfair that ppl who grind more, would progress more in savage. You are supposed to try savage at first as low ilvl possible and after each week you will gain more and more gear until it is not gear issue anymore. If you have still not beaten savage, now you have chance grind relic and diadam gear make it even more easier. Relic is never gonna be bis once content is relevant or gonna give you much adventage for anything.

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Originally Posted by Sunako

Or maybe they do not wanna ppl have that big adventage progress alexander with ilvl 210 weapon? Would be pretty unfair that ppl who grind more, would progress more in savage. You are supposed to try savage at first as low ilvl possible and after each week you will gain more and more gear until it is not gear issue anymore. If you have still not beaten savage, now you have chance grind relic and diadam gear make it even more easier. Relic is never gonna be bis once content is relevant or gonna give you much adventage for anything.

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Soo.... they couldn't have released the ilvl 170 or 200 steps way back why?

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Originally Posted by DragonSlayer45

We all know the answer. They wanted to stretch content out as much as possible to keep people subscribed. Grimy business tactics.

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I have no reason to believe it is anything other than this. Every piece of this relic grind is nothing more than recycled content. Adding a few basic crafting recipes and beastmen tokens does not take months to develop. I don't feel guilty saying how pleased I am to see so many people unsubscribing. As many others have said, vote with your wallet, because it is the only thing SE is going to understand, considering all of the feedback over the past 1-2 years regarding relic grinds (which have been utterly ignored). "Fun comes first" is nothing but bullshit lip-service.

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Originally Posted by Belhi

Did you see the state of the instance servers right after 3.15 dropped? Filled to bursting. People were finding themselves in parties ready to go and waiting for instances to become available.

Imagine it that had happened when 3.1 launched.

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I think this is the closest to accurate answer.

Let's not forget the nasty duty finder queue bug that hit some players after 3.1 came out. Can you imagine trying to queue for your relic and have 2 hour queues too?

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Originally Posted by Whiteroom

Soo.... they couldn't have released the ilvl 170 or 200 steps way back why?

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Even ilvl 200 weapon would give you advantage back in day progress because you would save 990 eso from it. 170 step seems like pretty useless since there was already 190 weapons in game once hw released. The reason most likely is that because they skipped zenith part from this expansion and they wanted content be done without relics. first 2 parts works like atma weapon back in days. Atma itself did not really help anything before it was animus. Zenith lvl 90 relic was pretty big advanage back in days in first coil, maybe they did not wanted that be the case in current content.

Must have put all their development time of new content into LoV instead ...

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Originally Posted by Sunako

Even ilvl 200 weapon would give you advantage back in day progress because you would save 990 eso from it. 170 step seems like pretty useless since there was already 190 weapons in game once hw released. The reason most likely is that because they skipped zenith part from this expansion and they wanted content be done without relics. first 2 parts works like atma weapon back in days. Atma itself did not really help anything before it was animus. Zenith lvl 90 relic was pretty big advanage back in days in first coil, maybe they did not wanted that be the case in current content.

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They could have easily released 170 at the get go, and ilvl 200 with or soon after eso, how long ago was.eso released? Well I have four weapons and about two full sets. There was way to long in between to justify waiting this long.

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Originally Posted by Whiteroom

They could have easily released 170 at the get go, and ilvl 200 with or soon after eso, how long ago was.eso released? Well I have four weapons and about two full sets. There was way to long in between to justify waiting this long.

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And you know how this would've really helped? It would've helped all the people who bought eso weapons on classes only to later get screwed by SE's Alexander Savage raid design. All those players who had to wait 3 weeks to buy the weapon for another job would've loved the ability to get another i200 weapon even if it cost them the grind.

This entire thing is just a gigantic slap to the face of their player base. This clearly shows that they don't give a damn about their subscribers.

If this was released "on time," the initial grind in Alexander Normal would've been much more rewarding. Rather than going countless runs with nothing as you get screwed by RNG, at least you get relic tokens. All that law that you wasted while sitting capped at 2000? Could've been spent on relic tokens. All those Vanu Vanu dailies you did? Could've also helped you with your relic. The relic would've helped add volume to their game if it had been released when initially planned.

That it got delayed this long is clearly not an issue with the relic. It just says one thing. We have nothing new to give you. So, we're going to take a dump in your mouth and you're going to like it. See you in 3.2!

If you think this is good behavior from any developer, you are a blind fool.