The Atma Stigma

[Kabooa]

Regards,
M

Just one little tidbit here.

I don't think anyone would be complaining if it was some random ass weapon -with the exact stats- that the Atma/Animas/Novus currently has. I can only speak for myself, but the disappointment has nothing to do with not having a shiney ilvl 100 weapon.

It's a failure of expectation and continuation on what was arguably one of the most engaging parts of hitting your end-game Job. That Relic questline was the entire focus of your pre-coil (maybe even mid-coil and post-coil) experience, and each step of that quest certainly felt like you were both making strides and seeing something shape before you. In this regard the presentation made the item (And the fact that there were no i90 alternatives at the time.)

This isn't just one of the three weapons you can go for. It is the weapon the game spent a large amount of development time to make you care about it.

This is my Stardust rod. There are many others like it, but this one is mine. The Allagan wand/shield combo may be better, -but- this is -my- Stardust rod. The Primal weapon may have a "better" stat set up, -but this is my Stardust Rod-. It is not the generic weapon of those available.

The disappointment came not from the item itself, but the presentation.

You don't go unearthing lore about it. You go and farm Atma.
You don't gather the materials, find a crafter, and infuse materia to create a vessel. You go and farm Atma.
You don't go testing the frail and broken vessel. You go and farm Atma.
You don't go defeating mighty foes to bind the weapon to you and resonate within your very soul. -You go and farm atma-
You don't bring down the (at the time) strongest primals in the world to power the forge and infuse the weapon. You go and farm Atma
That's all you do.

You farm Atma from outdated content, and then farm Myth from the -same thing every single day- in order to do even more -outdated content- to make your texture updated weapon glow. I don't see anyone complaining about the time it takes. I see people complaining about how -mind numbingly boring and tedious- it is to do the least engaging content in the game on the -one weapon- the game has invested so much time to make you care about beyond numbers. High Allagan is better. Until your Novus is ready, the restored Soldiery is better.

But all those weapons are transitory and will be gone with the next ilvl patch. Your relic is what remains, and the Relic itself is now gated by a terrible chance and farm mechanic that has no place in -any- game.

For relevant "Low chance drop games" I have played...
Diablo series
Guild Wars
World of Warcraft (arguably)
Aion
Warhammer 40k
SWToR

Diablo is notorious, but disguises it well with the fact that -mountains of loot- is thrown at you to sift through, sell, trade, or use. Aiming for 1 specific item will take weeks, maybe months, certainly. But -it's not the only thing you're getting-.

Guild Wars introduced collectible Set items that provided nothing but guaranteed Maximized properties and sometimes specialty Skins. The weapons, while rare and no guarantee it's your lot when they drop, were -at best- equal to easily acquired weapons and were not given any significance other than a green name. Like a trading card game, some of the fun was simply finding, trading, and collecting.

World of Warcraft is notorious for its "Legendary" items, especially as they usually required the aid of an entire raid team. This only lead to toxic attitudes towards these once-per-expansion-twice-if-you're-lucky items in guilds and provided nothing positive for 99% of the playerbase.

Likewise, in Aion the low drop rates were especially terrible given that the focus of the game was PvP. It did nothing to positively enhance the game other than reinforce already crippling inequalities between the two Factions, and in a game where winning compounds upon winning through gear progression, it was one of the primary reasons the game swelled and then shrank in record time.

Warhammer didn't really have low drop rates which made it easy to gear up and go. The game flopped for other reasons, but easily acquired gear and a low entry barrier for competitive gear standards only helped the game stay afloat when crippling end-game design was continuously @!#%-punting it.

SWToR is another example of easily acquired equipment not negatively impacting the game. However, many of the equipment choices were only for aesthetics due to how you could customize equipment, and you were not given much reason to 'like' or 'care' about Sniper Traffic guard gear when you made a Matrix-esque set for your sniper.

The only thing these gating mechanisms do is attempt to extend content so they have time to develop more. It's burying a cookie in a mountain of !#^@ so they have time to make more cookies. And the worst part is this entire section of the Relic weapon took a really good cookie and -baked the !@#%- directly into it.

It is not only a tedious grind, but an underwhelming pay off, and a glaringly obvious look at why people are always looking for the next game. The formula is tiring and people want something new. They don't want another themepark with long lines. What they want, I can't say for them, but -this- !@#^, the Atma and Novus, is definitely not something I ever want to see again.