My thoughts on the Animus issue.

[Mayrissa]

Eventually - it's better for the game to cause people to stray from the Relic path. The world needs variety...not everyone running around with relics.

There would still be variation for the simple fact that for some jobs Levia EX + Mirror Weapons, or T7 + Rowena (Soldiery) weapons are better than Animus, and will probably still be better than Novus - for the reason that the stats on some of the relics (SMN/BRD particularly) are absolutely whaff for those jobs.

Also by the time 2.1 and EX Primals rolled around, there were plenty of people running around with Rowena (EX Primal) weapons and Allagan weapons. Heck there were actually more people using HM Primal weapons for a while where they were the same ilvl as non-zenith relics. So I really dunno where you're pulling this "everyone was the same" from.

My main issue with this "content" is that it's just recycling existing content in the game in the form of a grind. This was a game that gave us cool class quests every 5 levels as well as a fantastic main scenario. Surely they could've come up with some form of quest line that involved class skill checks and other challenges, rather than an RNG grind followed by how much farming you can do before you die of boredom. It's just lazy and archaic game design, which I believe is ultimately the underlying crux of most peoples complaints, not the duration the "content" takes.

[ZReport]

People fail to see that the atma quest was implemented to prevent the entire game's population from all having the same weapon (what happened in 2.0 and 2.1). Eventually - it's better for the game to cause people to stray from the Relic path. The world needs variety...not everyone running around with relics (be it the most up-to-date version or a less upgraded version).

You're speaking from a more selfish point-of-view, but you disguise it in the form of "wanting variety." Yoshida has stated a while ago during the March 19th Dengeki interview that he would increase the breadth of items at each level, i.e. the variety. Variety is coming, but it's up to you to remain patient and understand that Yoshi-P has it under control.

To that end, you really shouldn't worry about who has what in this game, unless you are the type of person who looks down on others for having inferior weapons. Understand that you are human -- as all other humans, we [usually] look forward to and strive for the best things as well as strive to operate in the most efficient way possible, even in an MMO. This simply means that as long as their is a promise of an "Ultimate Weapon," people will go after it. The game will naturally sort itself out as the upgrade process continues. The difficulty will amp up, and you will see people fall to the wayside when it comes to upgrading the weapons, for another easier to obtain option.

[MeiUshu]

2 weeks of trying to get 1 atma, after two weeks at 3-4h per day and 8h on sat + sun, didnt bring me ....anything at all...none zéro....I stopped. When you try for two weeks and get nothing, and your time is limitated at those 3-4h, obvioulsy means you will be stuck whree you are without possibilities to move forward..all I do ? is level other jobs, now and then, do CT and that is it....
the main problem I have is that atmas shouldnt be related to fates, there are so many fates in this world, lol, it should really be a whole new set of quests engulfing a whole new set of stories that leads you to get your atmas, it may take weeks, months to get them all, with harder quests, harder challenge, something concrete, people would work their way to it I am sure pretty much more then what is today lol and give them something else to do ..but is me...most that can spend their entire life online would disagree, bu this game isnt player by a majority of no lifers....and for a vast quantity of players, atmas is just a pain not int erms of grinding but in terms of how annoying it is and for no result even after hours and hours and hours of hard work.

Just me though

Mei

[Felis]

I dont mind the 40 - 50 hours grind for complete the Atma weapons.

My problem with this Dam weapon are.

1.- The atma weapons do not have stats change................... After 50 hours grinding.. We do not RECEIVE A REWARD/STATS change, this is unacceptable.

The reward is a higher ilevel that make space for higher stats.

Just imagine ilevel as a glass and stats as water. You have a glass full of water (zenith). Now you get a new glass that is bigger in which you fill in the water from the other glass (atma with zenith stats). Now the glass is not full anymore, that mean you can fill it up with more water (the books) until it is full again (animus).

Yoshida already said before 2.2 that the players upgrade the stats on the new relicts themselves. The atma stones farming part increase the ilevel for higher stats and the book farming part is the real upgrade phase.

[Amberion]

Snip!

Finally someone that gets it.

It's like the limit break quests in FFXI. They didn't give you 5 levels, only unlocked it so you could go out and level up 5 more times.

[HaelseMikiro]

I think the current progression of the Zodiac Saga is spot on. From the RNG Atmas, to the 'myth run Brayflox 30 times to buy another book'. Still don't have my animus yet, but I'll have it finished before 2.8, and then will start working on my alternate classes as soon as the chain/farm gets nerfed a bit. Probably exactly how it was designed.