ATMA is AWESOME, more Content like it please

[AmalahRose]

Me and a few LS friends called out our chocobo companions and hit the fates together and we had a lot of fun doing so. I enjoyed the atma part.

[elreed]

I actually agree with the op. but at the same time as the majority I find the content a bit boring and random, I really liked the magian weapons from xi, especially when you had a dual wield job, you could get 2 completely different weapons from the same base weapon and had a good long term goal, but as we all know what worked in other past MMO's doesn't work right now, I played xi a few months ago and had to start from scratch because I lost my account, so while I missed the grind and remembered it as something fun, it wasn't the same this last time, actually I was bored mid way.

In the other hand the relic reborn quest was too easy, with the needed tombstones you could get your relic in one day with a static, so we need a balance, like for example the FATES, I really don't mind doing those at all, in fact it was a really smart idea to get us out from Mor Dhona and give us what a lot of us were asking, open world content and a chance to explore all the awesome details in every area, add to that the new ppls from PS4 getting help from veteran players to level up and see the game less lonely.

A good balance to the FATE part for the Zodiak weapons would be if the requirements to get the Atma could be doing all the FATES available in the zone, ok this would speed up the process, but they could always add more quests to balance the grind, it would be way better like this, because people like me that are mid core and cant play many hours as we want can focus on getting something done little by little, so everytime you log in you can go to a zone and try completing your missing FATES while you wait for Duty Finder or a Party to fill while queuing in party finder.

For NM's I would love having some solo fights likes the one we had in Beta, were several complained about the difficulty, you actually needed a good strat and good gear to have a chance beating the boss, I think it was a lvl 15 fight, you could actually feel the achievement, right now the only place you can feel that is in Coil and some extreme primals, wouldn't hurt having that in this quests.

[Artair]

all things aside, is this weapon u get at the end even after the myth books really valuable? i100 crap compared to coil's i110 and i115

1: This isn't the final stage (see image below).
2: This costs 0 Soldiary tomes.
3: ALL current content can be completed with i90-95 weapons anyway.
4: Latest Famitsu says the end product will be i115 tied with high allagan:



So yes, yes it is valuable.

[Exstal]

There is only one problem with the Animus. The fates required are completely off the wall. I've been camping this fate for a while now because I have nothing better to do but any casual will never get this done. There's almost 0% chance you'll be in the right zone at the right time to get it.

But if they are nerfing the required fates (the rest of the book grind is okay) then it'll actually be attainable by casuals in 2~3 months time instead of getting 1 book in 1 month.

[Nocte]

Well, I enjoyed. Though this was largely due to a large populace participating in the FATE grind right after the patch hit (unlike now where there's significantly less actively doing so); having to prioritise some over others in terms of accessibility and difficulty was somewhat fun, while having to manage your travel routes in order to reach the less accessible FATEs was fairly challenging (it was terrible until I realized I could TP to Mist for one hell of a shortcut). Not to mention I could keep my chocobo out for some quick exp (+ the challenge log) and build up on GC seals, an absolute necessity for those constantly sending retainers out on ventures at regular intervals.

The myth grind was... okay.

The FATEs required for the book reeeeaaaaally need to spawn more often. Some wouldn't spawn even after a certain bunch had at least 6 times.

[Jerichai]

I don't know why people defend the Atma system...it was honestly a lazy implementation of a grind. Basically take existing low level FATES, add the Atmas to the drop list with a low drop rate, and then give people basically the Animus weapon without the glowly particle effects and added stats. Really...this isn't something SE spent copious amounts of development hours implementing. And we can honestly expect better.

Now...before the people who prefer grinds and are defending Atma to the death fly off their rockers, understand this: I actually agree the game needed a longer term object and I'm not looking for a handout here. In fact, I think if more of the pro-Atma camp took a breath and actually tried to understand some of the more calmly worded opposition to the current system, I think they'd find that this isn't a fight between maintaining long term/grindy objectives vs. 'gimme free epicz'. In fact, I'd argue that many of the people who are against the current form of Atma aren't against grinds. No, what they're against are poorly implemented grinds.

Here are the current issues I see with the current Atma system:

1. Completion time can vary widely between players, even between players of equivalent skill/knowledge/dedication/etc. We've seen cases of people who've gotten their Atmas in under 10 hours of grinding, while others have days worth and do not have a full set. This is creating two extremes. There are some who are basically handed their weapon (what the grindy camp tends to hate mind you) while others are forced to toil on for a significantly longer period of time. While there are definitely many who fall around the average, I still feel this is worth saying: A well implemented grind should generally take a similar amount of devoted time for players of equal standing, and that simply isn't happening in the current system.

2. There's limited avenues to affect the duration of the grind through skillful play. Really, the only thing you can do is maximize how quickly you get around the map to the FATES, and there's not much to that. Let's look at the better implemented Animus portion. It is possible to increase the rate at which you gain mythology for the books through intelligent, skillful play. Learning how to speed run, being able to pull more and pull faster, and maximizing DPS are all valuable skills to develop in an MMO. Players who can do this are rewarded with the fact that the time to collect all the necessary myth will be shortened.

3. The current design is rather unforgiving for players with restricted game time. The fact is, the drop chance of the Atmas does not change, no matter how many times you do it. You could spend 3 hours in a night working on getting a single Atma, not get it, and still be no closer to your ultimate goal for the next time you log on. This is one I can speak to from experience. When 8 hours in a week to play games is a rare luxury, the thought of wasting any portion of that to making zero progress is a bit daunting. And no, I don't want the system made easier on my behalf so it only takes a couple of hours. In truth, I still like having a long term goal, even when I know (and accept) it will take me a lot longer than many to get there. I just want the benefit of knowing that what time I do spend is always moving me a little closer to that goal, even if only a little.

Those are my main issues with the current Atma system, not including the fact that I find low level FATES to be rather boring (but this is subjective). How would I fix it? Well, believe it or not, I do think it's possible to modify the system to make it more consistent and more satisfying all the while maintaining a long term grind. If keeping the FATES was necessary, then the key would be to have the Atmas drop after completing a set number of FATES. Just theoretically, let's say 100 FATES in a given zone for the respective Atma. I think most people would agree that 1200 FATES would still be a grind. However, using a set requirement like this, we eliminate the wide variation of completion times. Hell, depending on the number of FATES required, SE could in theory make a longer grind compared to the average completion time for the current Atma system. Additionally, we'd end up in a situation where people would be able to feel more satisfaction out of working on the Atma weapon in smaller increments. Even if someone only did a few FATES in a night, those would still be a few FATES closer to completion.

I end my rant with this. To the people who like the current system and say they got a sense of satisfaction from it: Do you really think you'd feel less accomplished in a system that takes a similar amount of time/dedication to complete but also eliminates the risk of some people being royally screwed over by sheer luck? We can quite literally maintain all the aspects people like of the current system (the grind, the long term goals, FATES and GC seal acquisition, chocobo leveling, etc) and still make the system less dependent on RNG...and therefore a more balanced experience for everyone that wants to try it out...

[Ddmk]

@jerichai

A very we'll presented and thought out post (liked it btw)
I have 4 atmas after over 100 hours of grinding,with your system I'd probly have them all by now

I 100% support your proposal, at least then you can gauge how close you are each time

[Kewitt]

Finally a post I can like about atmas.

[DoubleT]

i also fully support leaving atma as is. i was one of the people who wanted something to grind on, and i got it. i also understand that if they removed atmas from fates or made them too easy, then nobody would do fates again, an then they would just add something else to fates again to get more people to them. so just let it be, an be glad that the next content introduced wont require so much fates hopefully. an if you want skill based fights for weapons, go after one of the many skill based fights that give weapons. the option that they all ask for is already in game, they just refuse to go after it. and they want to punish the rest of us who are happy, just because they cant have a max lv weapon now. i also understand that a major problem with this game, was people running out of stuff to do 1-2 months into each patch, an many many people would unsub an take long breaks till the next major patch.... hmmm i wonder why SE really introduced all this grinding in 2.2. Honestly though, if you cant be bothered to go after a animus, or a upgraded weathered weapon, or a leviathin weapon, or a high allagahn weapon, or hell even t5 weapon, then you seriously dont need a weapon higher than zenith/ex-primal, as you are not doing any content needing a high lv weapon. you dont need ilv100+ to spam brayflox.

[Macka]

are they indifferent? are you saying all the players on the game who complain and hate the atma quest are lying to everyone? when both the forums and the population in game match it says something then you have SE themselves saying barely anyone has it and is taking feedback on the quest hmm seems like something to me.

1 the forums are a small percentage of the actual playerbase and 2 how the hell you know what everyone in population thinks of the atma quest. I started it got 4 atmas and then started else the quest or the grind doesn't bother me.

Sincerely a so called causal player even though I play more then a so called hardcore player.