Relic Spells/Abilities

[sheepysheepy]

from a dev. pov it might be more viable to say, add 2 seconds to HG if using holy shield animus, Meteors aoe increasing a couple of yalms with stardust rods, cure2 healing the whm for 5% of what they heal the target for with thyrus

or similar little 'benefits' that don't really cause anyone clearing second coil to switch their gear?

[Kitru]

or similar little 'benefits' that don't really cause anyone clearing second coil to switch their gear?

2 extra seconds on HG would most definitely be enough to make sure that every PLD is using their Animus shield (the increases to stat bonuses and block value/rate based on ilvl are minute). Getting a couple more yalms out of Meteor could easily make or break hitting extra targets with it (it would most definitely let you hit Levi and Levi's tail along with all 4 spumes which is, on it's own, a huge damage increase). Healing yourself for 5% with Cure II basically eliminates most of the need to heal yourself as a WHM, which frees you up to do a crapload more other stuff.

Any benefit you provide that is exclusive to relics is either not going to matter, be entirely situational such that it's the de facto choice for some encounters and pointless for others, or so powerful that it doesn't matter what other options are around.

It was actually a good idea for the devs to remove set bonuses from end game gear because it actually allows players to make choices about their gear without being worried about screwing themselves over by losing a bonus. In other games, I've ended up with an awesome piece of gear that I couldn't use because it would break the set bonus; I had to wait until I got another piece (which took several weeks) before it was actually useful to me *even though it was higher ilvl*.

Set bonuses along with any special bonuses (like increasing durations or other special effects) basically prevent players from actually using all of the gearing options available to them. If the devs make it so that any combination of end game gear gives you the set bonus, what's the point of the set bonus in the first place? At that point, it's just a passive bonus.

Any special traits or abilities based off of the relic quest would need to be straight up rewards for completing the quest that you have available to you regardless of whether the weapon is equipped (this can already be done as evidenced by job abilities along with a number of class abilities). Honestly, I have no problem with this because it encourages players to put in the work to get it and provides a nice, tangible benefit for the quest even when you've got a better weapon equipped (even if it's the same ilvl, sometimes the relic just has absolutely terrible stats on it).