Why does SE want Relics to be boring?
I've had this opinion for a long time now, but after hearing about Eureka I wanted to hold onto it due to it supposedly "Reworking" the relic system. After playing around with it, it's safe to say that the Relics are still being implemented against the flow of FFXIV's design.
I think the concept of the relic weapons is great and that they are achievement gear that you spend a lot of time building. The problem is that the building process is, and has always been, stale.
Why couldn't they make the Relic "building" process more entertaining aside from "Run x Dungeon 200 times" or "Kill 300 of this monster"? Why did their creativity in revitalizing older content and systems stop at the basic premise of Kill x Monsters and Beat x Dungeons?
Perhaps they could've given relics different goals during the building process to take pressure and focus off of the menial setting/task. Instead of running x Dungeon 100 times, why not have challenges in place for Relic grinders that make the content more interesting? Like having random challenges in these dungeons such as removing the Tank's defensive stance for the whole dungeon, or healing spells are at 5-10x MP cost? Or possibly let the party roll for multiple of those challenges for a much higher payoff? Try making the quality per dungeon or whatever go up instead of having them run it so many times in a row. Same goes for FATE "atma" grinds. Why not have special skills/challenges/gimmicks in place to alleviate the pressure of raw FATE grind and increase the quality of the user's play time instead of wasting it?
As for Eureka, why is the element system so bland? It's like they once again just stopped at a basic premise and didn't go beyond to keep things new and interesting.
Some ideas:
-Make half the fight built around mastering the elements, rather than passive boring stat buffs.
-More intricate monsters and bosses that REQUIRE proper in-combat element management to create a whole new layer of depth and a fresh new playstyle to keep players interested.
-Give the players a few different Eureka-Only skills that expend their elemental resource points and passive ways to recharge it. Skills like 30 second weapon element imbue for passive damage, a 30 second armor element imbue for passive mitigation, a oGCD elemental attack (Burst window exploit tool), a oGCD heal that heals/damages based on a player's current weapon/armor imbue, and so on.
-Letting the storms and weather effect how your elements react with the monsters and environment to create a more sandbox-like effect. (eg. Lighting oGCD attack turns into AoE during rain storm, or Ice oGCD attack perma-binds all monsters standing in water, etc)
It's not some end-all-be-all, just some ideas thrown out there for ways to make relic grinds more entertaining and new. I'm not against long content, but why do Relic grinds always got to be so BORING? I play games to have fun in the small pockets of time I have, not throw it away. Relics are everything this game seems to stand against.
Not against a grind, I'm against BORING.
I've been playing FFXIV since around Shiva's debut. I've played long enough to have done the Zodiac weapon for BLM AND the Anima weapon for BLM and DRG. I'm absolutely NOT against a long meaningful grind for an awesome looking weapon. What I AM against, is mind numbing bore.
First off, both previous relic weapons had you doing an variety of steps during each stage of its refinement, to break up the boredom. ARR even had UNIQUE steps, starting with the Beast tribes, crafting weapons, melding materia, and a unique instances, the Chimera and the Hydra.
When I say meaningful, I mean that at the end of the grind, after all the boring grinds, you had a UNIQUE weapon. Something unlike anything previously seen in the game. Even if it wasn't BiS, it was AWESOME LOOKING! Eureka gear? It's literally just glowing versions of the gear given to you when you turn 70. Gear you've had since the very beginning of Stormblood.........REALLY!?
I love relics, ever since FFXI this so call grind now for relics is a joke.
Not to sound negative, yet for those of us who did relics back in FFXI before the huge dynamis nerf, we can all agree this relic grind does not compare to it.
It's already bad enough that relics are not the strongest weapon in the game, are delayed the most, are still nerfed even though they are not hard, and if anything are made to par with endgame weps. The process may seem boring and believe me I should know I had all Zodiac and almost all Anima weapons ( need 4 more light stages ) done so I have spent my fair share with this repetitive cycle. However, people seem to misunderstand the main purpose of relics and now relic gear. Why do people do relics to begin with? If it's so boring why not stick with endgame? The answer is simple, they are either anti social and don't get FC help, don't like dealing with groups who make unfair rules if they are not part of the founding team, and my personal favorite, because we enjoy it, kind of just want the achievement while we kill time between RL and expansions. Relics are not for everyone, and while there are other things to do, hence the optional content, it depends on the player. If anything I see relics as a type of trophy were hard work pays of, not one that you get for just trying.