Is there any point to doing Relic Weapon quests other than glamour?

Coming back to the game after a long hiatus I now realize that I should never have bothered spending so much money and time doing the 2.0 Relic quest because -- despite claims the developers made at the time -- 3.0 abandoned the chain and created a new "Atma weapon" Relic quest.

Now I see that I can just buy ilv 200 weapon with tomes. Sure, it's not ilv210 but does that really matter? From my understanding the new quests don't even let you select some of the stats for the weapon, which is one of the advantages I saw in the zodiac quest.

I get the impression the Relic Weapon quests were not well thought out.

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Originally Posted by therpgfanatic

The Aetherochemical Research Facility. A Black Mage was spamming Ice II and didn't want to use Flare because "Ice II was more sustainable dps" and "Flare eats all my MP".

Also he said "because Flare eats all my MP I need full MP to use it".

He wouldn't take any advice that his rotation needed changing.

It was a slow, slow run.

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Wrong thread?

There is no real incentive to do the original relic quest line unless you want it for glamour. Having a Zeta allows you to skip the first part of the Anima grind, but if you don't already have one, it's not worth it to get one now just for that purpose.

As for the custom stats, those were not on the original relics either. Custom stats were added in a later phase, and that could also be the case with the Anima weapons.

The relic/anima quest line is a long-term investment. It will continue to grow and evolve and is generally the counterpart to obtaining a weapon via the current Raid content. Yes, you can get an i200 weapon with tomes, but currently without a raid drop, it stays i200. An Anima weapon will increase in iLevel with each update to stay current.

I did the quest originally because I was under the impression the relic weapon would be continually upgradable. I recall reading that in a developer interview or something.

I know that I have no intention of investing time and energy into upgrading a weapon that will be abandoned for a new upgradable weapon come next patch. All the time I sunk into it could have went into leveling another class or something.

Well, the original relic was continuously upgradeable prior to Heavensward. Once it reached Zeta, it was at the appropriately level for the current "endgame" content.

With the release of Heavensward, I believe SE created a completely new quest line so that new players would not need to complete the very long and obsolete Relic quest line just to even have access to the Anima weapon quest.

Those who completed a Zeta previously are given the choice to consume their Zeta to skip the first tedious grind of the new questline. While the stats are "lost", you are investing in a new weapon and giving yourself an advantage. Again, as for the custom stats, I'm sure those will make themselves available at some point during the life of the Anima weapon era.

Anima weapons should be relevant for the life of Heavensward.

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Originally Posted by therpgfanatic

Coming back to the game after a long hiatus I now realize that I should never have bothered spending so much money and time doing the 2.0 Relic quest because -- despite claims the developers made at the time -- 3.0 abandoned the chain and created a new "Atma weapon" Relic quest.

Now I see that I can just buy ilv 200 weapon with tomes. Sure, it's not ilv210 but does that really matter? From my understanding the new quests don't even let you select some of the stats for the weapon, which is one of the advantages I saw in the zodiac quest.

I get the impression the Relic Weapon quests were not well thought out.

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Is there any point to doing any content, other than for glamour? The vertical treadmill makes today's current best gear, nothing more than glamour 6 months after it's first introduced, only real reason atm to do endgame is for accomplishment. Getting to high enough ilvl to clear content is all that is needed, whether that's through tomes, raids, relic or crafting, doesn't matter.

Yoshi P said right after 3.0 relics launched(just dont remember where) just do old relics if you really want the weapon, titles and achievments, otherwise you should aim straight for the 3.0 one.

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Originally Posted by therpgfanatic

I did the quest originally because I was under the impression the relic weapon would be continually upgradable. I recall reading that in a developer interview or something.

I know that I have no intention of investing time and energy into upgrading a weapon that will be abandoned for a new upgradable weapon come next patch. All the time I sunk into it could have went into leveling another class or something.

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You do realize that the original relic quest lasted from 2.0 all the way through Heavensward, right? That's two years. You don't need to worry about the content suddenly becoming obsolete "next patch". More like next expansion. Zetas also stayed viable for leveling until around 55-57 and got you past the hideous "Atma grind" stage of the new Anima weapon quest. Not bad at all.

Right now, the relic is best in slot for some jobs. Yes, that will change next week, until the next stage of the relic quest releases.

It will be good and "bad" alternatively, depending on the patch. But fir the moment, it will be a good start for Midas Savage, if you're like the majority who haven't finished A4S

It's an optional quest (It gates nothing), either do it or don't.... too many people complaining that the relic weapon isn't A) the best weapon in the game and B) the easiest weapon to get.... How dumb would it be if the strongest weapon in the game is also the easiest to get? If you want to use a weaker weapon that you can get more easily then do it.... It's called making decisions, just be glad you can still make decisions in FF14... WoW's Legion there is going to be only 1 weapon for each class for the whole expansion.... NO CHOICES... I think I'm starting to see why lol

Unless you really want the glamour, no, it's not worth making a Zeta if you're going to work on Anima.

As for Anima... well it depends entirely on your job and whether you raid or not. Most likely we'll be able to choose the secondary stats on our weapons later down the line, but currently some of the weapons are best in slot. It's also the only way for people to get a 210 weapon without having to clear A4S.

Oh, sure, there will be better weapons released. But the Anima questline isn't going to end at 210. You'll get to upgrade it, patch after patch, and by the end of Heavensward I'm sure it will be the best weapon available, just like Zeta weapons were, and it will still be good enough to help you in the next expansion.

If you have the time, effort and will to get potentially the best weapon in the game, then by all means, you should work on Anima. If not, well, you can still clear regular content just fine with EX primal or tome-bought weapons.

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Originally Posted by Vele

You'll get to upgrade it, patch after patch, and by the end of Heavensward I'm sure it will be the best weapon available, just like Zeta weapons were, and it will still be good enough to help you in the next expansion.

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Note however that the upgrading of the weapon is constantly held back on purpose in order to allow raid weapons to be "the" option for longer. By the time they compete with the current raid tier, a set of even better weapons is already on the horizon. Considering it's heavily grind/time gated on top of that, it's pretty pointless to pursue it for anything other than glamour.

*sigh*
Reviewing the responses to this topic one would believe that everyone playing has A4S clears and farmed weapons and gear from Alex Savage and Void Ark.

But, back here in reality land, Alex Savage completion rates are still in single digits and a majority of players don't have raid gear, and are far, far more likely to go after the relic.

See now, the thing is, the poiint of view that says that the relic is only for glamour is basically quite wrong, except when the player is expressing their opinion as a high level raider. Compared to the raid weapons, the Relic may never be more than a glamour piece for you.

But if you do not raid, the Relic is going to be the pinnacle of weapons in the game.

So, yes, there sure as hell is a point to doing the relic weapon quests, especially for those who will not, or cannot pursue the raid weapons.

Kosmos, the OP was talking about finishing his ARR Relic questline.

While we agree that there is a rather rose-colored view on how common A4S weapons are and how easy they are to come by, the fact remains that there is exactly one good reason to do the ARR relic at this point: Glamour.

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Originally Posted by Moonleg

Kosmos, the OP was talking about finishing his ARR Relic questline.

While we agree that there is a rather rose-colored view on how common A4S weapons are and how easy they are to come by, the fact remains that there is exactly one good reason to do the ARR relic at this point: Glamour.

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OK, I didn't get that from the replies, it seemed as though the context were Relixs in general not the ARR one. I mean, I'm working to Zeta the Paladin one, but not for the weapon only the glamour. But I have seen this topic come up before, and it was not in reference to the ARR relics, it was simply questioning the point of the HW relic chain because "everyone" already has raid weapons...I responded from that context.

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Originally Posted by Moonleg

Kosmos, the OP was talking about finishing his ARR Relic questline.

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I'm under the impression OP is complaining how the ARR relic doesn't directly continue into the HW relic AND how the HW relic doesn't seem to be worth getting as you can't currently choose the secondary stats, and it's only ilevel 210 when you can buy ilevel 200 weapons with esoterics.

For a casual player, 10 ilevels isn't a big deal, you can still do the storyline and clear dungeons fine with an i200 weapon or even 190 or 180. The relic is there for people who are interested in doing more, but aren't doing end-game raids (or are but are still struggling to clear).

And it would be quite unfair to lock people out of the Anima questline because they haven't done Zeta... especially those wanting DRK, AST and MCH relics.

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Originally Posted by Vele

And it would be quite unfair to lock people out of the Anima questline because they haven't done Zeta... especially those wanting DRK, AST and MCH relics.

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I don't see how it would be anymore "unfair" than to expect new players to level up to 60 and not automatically get to jump into Heavensward content, so that's a bad argument.

Especially when the atma orb and light farming parts of the quest chain were drastically improved to cut down on the time sink needed to complete those phases, which are some of the most painful.

Additionally, if they had kept adding more chains to the quest to allow Relic weapons to be improved, there would be incentive for more veteran players to do a lot of the older content which helps the newbies out in both DF query times and FATE grinding, as was one of the design intentions of the quest-line. Now it seems they are adding the Mentor system to compensate for this, but with the requirements I don't think a lot of folks are going to be doing it to the same extent as compared to those who were doing the relic back in the day.