Returners Question Corner: Should I do Anima or Eureka before Shadowbringers?

Felt like this was actually a good question to get other community members answering. My own answer on this after debating it with my brother on it is that Eureka is the better choice right now, assuming you can get the time to catch up.

The reasons really came down to how easy it is to get the resources necessary to complete the weapon. Anima is very soloable, if sometimes a touch aggravating. Eureka is definitely not a solo experience and it's going to be hard to make it soloable due to the elemental level and dependence on killing NMs for resources. When SB drops, I believe the last golden opportunity to complete eureka would be the window between 5.0 and 5.1.

Anyway, that is my take on it. Do others feel the same way on this?

Anima will remain easy to do for probably the duration of the game's lifetime. Eureka...I would expect it to die after Shadowbringers launches if it isn't dying already. If you grind through Eureka enough you should probably be able to finish a weapon before Shadowbringers.

Eureka is the obvious answer. Just like you said, the previous relics are very soloable, and become more and more soloable each patch due to even being able to do some of their steps unsync nowadays. But due to the nature of Eureka (separate character levels, synced gear, annoying monsters to solo due to their inflated HP pools, etc.), it would be a pain to do it later once the content dies and there's no parties doing it. You can see how when Eureka's instances are not very populated barely anyone does anything there.

I'm so glad I hate every eureka weapons design aside from the very first stage so the incentive for me is absolutely gone and leaves zero room for regret.

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Originally Posted by Vanitas

I'm so glad I hate every eureka weapons design aside from the very first stage so the incentive for me is absolutely gone and leaves zero room for regret.

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I think the novelty of a bad item tends to pay off later. Peoples opinions of things change with time and the same goes for special items.

Eureka is the obvious choice here.

The majority of Anima is soloable, with the EX Trials that are the roadblock at the moment will likely be soloable at level 80.

Eureka we have no idea if it's going to be soloable in ShB and beyond. As it currently stands, it is not and without significant changes, it won't be.

So, it's better to do the thing that as far as we know, has a limited lifespan (Even if it is somewhat populated in ShB, it won't be as fast as doing it while it's quite populated and people are regularly doing Trains as is currently happening) rather than the thing that is easily mostly soloed right now and will be likely easily soloed entirely next expansion.

Alternatively... Work on both. Farm up Poetics through daily roulettes and buy Anima quest items while spending the majority of your grinding time on Eureka.

Anima is the obvious choice here.
Its weapons look better than Eureka's.
It's far less likely to make you want to ragequit and unsubscribe before Shadowbringers, like Eureka might.
Plus, the fewer people who put up with all the flaws of Eureka long enough to get a weapon, the more likely SE is to not make the same mistakes again.

Anima can be casually done solo in about 2 weeks. Eureka is going to probably die once the next expansion releases so if you like any of the weapons from there I'd do that first.

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Originally Posted by Jennah

Plus, the fewer people who put up with all the flaws of Eureka long enough to get a weapon, the more likely SE is to not make the same mistakes again.

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They've already talked about Eureka-like content for 5.0.

As for which one to prioritize? Personally I'd prioritize getting all 56 Logos actions over working on either Eureka or Anima weapons. Less people doing Eureka, Pyros and Hydatos specifically, also means the amount of logograms on the marketboard will decrease over time. It'll become tougher to hit the necessary milestones of 30 (Pyros Relic), 50 (Pyros Armor), and 56 Logos actions unlocked (Hydatos Armor upgrade).

If the choice is between Anima and Eureka weapons specifically? Probably Eureka weapons, though keep in mind that NMs scale with the amount of players inside the instance.

Eureka would be the choice. With the fate trains in each zone now and all the nerfs, you'd probably take 2 days for anemos, 2 days pagos, 3 days pyros (no stat rolling) and 3 days Hydatos to get your relic. So a total of 10 days. And that's with the assumption of a casual play.

If you're hardcore grinding, then you can easily finish each zone in 1 day.

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Originally Posted by Jennah

Plus, the fewer people who put up with all the flaws of Eureka long enough to get a weapon, the more likely SE is to not make the same mistakes again.

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Actually, more people are doing Eureka than Anima according to the stats we got. And as some said here, they're making another Eureka like content in 5.0. But based on one of Yoshi P's interviews, he said they were surprised that there were people who liked the Anima/Relic style for the weapons. So there's a chance of getting a hybrid of the two for 5.0.

Eureka. Bunny parties in the higher levels are still worth getting stuff from to sell for gil and we dont know what the futures going to look like for it so Id do it now, it might wind up like diadem and be a dick to do alone or find a party for. Its no where near as bad as it used to be if still tedious. Anima you can do whenever.

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Originally Posted by Colt47

Eureka is definitely not a solo experience

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You can solo the entire thing, if you get into instances alone so the NMs scale down to being soloable. The problem is that you then have to spawn them instead of just waiting for someone else to spawn them for you.

Yes, NMs scale down to the amount of people in the instance, and you only need about 65% of them to show up to be able to kill it without too much difficulty. In this way, they future-proofed Eureka from conception.

You don't have to kill the bosses Pazuzu, Louhi or Penthesilea anymore because you can buy their items with Crystals from the Birdwatcher and the same will be so with Hydatos by 5.0. You can solo the NMs if nobody else is there (but there probably will be others there). You can buy all of the items required to make logos actions from the marketboard. You can skip Pyros' light step because the stats won't matter in 2-3 months.

In each Eureka, you just need to do the quests, level up, gather crystals from NMs and get light in pagos, all of which have been heavily buffed so you get more XP, more crystals, more light and NM spawns more easily. They'll likely apply more changes as it gets older.

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Originally Posted by Colt47

When SB drops, I believe the last golden opportunity to complete eureka would be the window between 5.0 and 5.1.

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Relic weapons are a big endgame for people who don't do high-end content. Almost every linkshell and FC I have ever been in has been full of people talking about how they are doing the various relics. Eureka will continue to live for as long as the game lives, just like the ARR and HW relics remain popular.

I have no idea what Anima is. Tried Eureka a few times, and found it was just a fast way to die, so I didn't bother with it further.
Is there any good reason to do it (and figure out how to survive?)

Anima refers to the 3.0 (Heavensward) glowy weapons for each job. Involves farming poetics and some other items a lot.

Eureka refers to the 4.0 (Stormblood) glowy weapons and armor for each job. Involves farming mainly Crystals and XP from NM fates, doing some quests and other odd things in each of four Eureka regions (Anemos, Pagos, Pyros and Hydatos).

You probably died in Eureka because you start a Elemental Level 1 and need to level up to Elemental Level 60 (1-20 in Anemos, 20-35 in Pagos, 35-50 in Pyros, 50-60 in Hydatos). The enemies are miles harder to solo than you are used to in the MSQ. Ask if you can be invited to the train in /shout and farm NMs with your party and you'll get all the XP and Crystals you need. They usually raise you if you die.

Both are long, tedious grinds that at least take days, although anima weapons have had significant nerfs so can be done faster. If you don't sleep you can do an anima weapon in about 48 hours.