Relic quest streamlined

[axemtitanium]

Nerfs I see happening with high likelihood:
atma drop rate increased to above 50%
atma book cost decreased to less than 200 "current" tomestones (whatever they may be)
faster repop of atma book FATEs
reduced number of enemies required to kill for atma book
reduced cost of alexandrite maps from tomestones and allied seals
reduced amount of light needed to progress to nexus
Zodiac weapon dungeon item drop rate increased to above 30%
Zodiac weapon tomestone requirement reduced by at least 1/2
Zodiac weapon GC seal requirement reduced by at least 1/2
Zodiac weapon gil purchased item requirement reduced marginally

Nerfs that are possible but not as likely:
reduced number of dungeons to run for atma book
extremely easy way to "farm" alexandrite in large quantities, such as much higher drop rate from FATEs, purchased directly with gil/GC seals/tomestones, or guaranteed/high % drops from dungeons
reduction of nexus light requirement to 500 light or less
reduced number of dungeon drops for Zodiac weapon required

Nerfs which are extremely unlikely:
reduced number of atma required
reduced number of atma books required
reduced number of alexandrite required
reduced number of HQ crafted mats for Zodiac required

I think a possible solution to the Zodiac weapon continuation in 3.0 is an "alternative" quest that is available upon the release of the main Zodiac quest in 3.0. The reward of this quest is a fully upgraded Zodiac weapon with the same name as the final Zodiac weapon from 2.x but with the original stat distribution of the vanilla relic. The "punishment" for players who took this shortcut is the fact that their fully upgraded Zodiac weapon will have terrible stats compared to people who customized their weapons properly by doing all the 2.x quests and will not have the opportunity to recustomize it until much later in the 3.0 Zodiac quest line.

[Pomelo]

^ I totes would love for my 2nd relic (hehe) the infusions of the Sphere Scroll to be changed...instead of +1 stat each time...it+ the value of the materia...so you don't need 75 materia's xDD

DO IT SE...save me some money :P My pockets are still empty from MNK Zodiac

[QiLymePye]

I think a possible solution to the Zodiac weapon continuation in 3.0 is an "alternative" quest that is available upon the release of the main Zodiac quest in 3.0. The reward of this quest is a fully upgraded Zodiac weapon with the same name as the final Zodiac weapon from 2.x but with the original stat distribution of the vanilla relic. The "punishment" for players who took this shortcut is the fact that their fully upgraded Zodiac weapon will have terrible stats compared to people who customized their weapons properly by doing all the 2.x quests and will not have the opportunity to recustomize it until much later in the 3.0 Zodiac quest line.

See thats not gonna work, cause you would be punishing new players and new players to be. Now what i think that could be a compromise is to have existing relics ba able to be turned in for maybe some type of materia or something that will give your new relic additional stats depending on lvl of relic turned in. That I can deal with, because people that put in time will have at least something for the time, or they could just keep the weapon and glamour it. But to force new players or slower players to backtrack will be problematic.

[Ceodore]

See thats not gonna work, cause you would be punishing new players and new players to be. Now what i think that could be a compromise is to have existing relics ba able to be turned in for maybe some type of materia or something that will give your new relic additional stats depending on lvl of relic turned in. That I can deal with, because people that put in time will have at least something for the time, or they could just keep the weapon and glamour it. But to force new players or slower players to backtrack will be problematic.

I don't think they were necessarily saying the new or slower players have to backtrack... that wouldn't really be the proper words to use. Essentially, it would be kind of like what you suggested. The players who have the newest and shiniest relic going into 3.0 would be able to keep the customized stats on their relics. Those who are still on Novus, Nexus or Zodiac (which will be outdated as soon as 2.5/2.51 comes out) could either trade in their current relic for an upgraded relic weapon with no stat customizations, or complete quests that have been made easier to finish their relic to the point coming out in 2.5/2.51, and then maybe continue it on the same quest line as the 3.0 relic, but with the customized stats. New players or new players to be aren't being punished at all really, they simply have a choice, either do the relic quest line from 2.0-2.5/2.51 made easier, or just skip all that and get a relic weapon from the 3.0 without the customized stats, just the stats in the base line ilvl 80 relic, only buffed up to be on par with the ilvl the new relic begins at.

This isn't punishment, it's choices. Either spend time to customize, or skip that and take what you're given. Either way, you have the new relic weapon, just the people who would like to feel that their time, gil, and effort weren't just a waste would get their wish. Also, your suggestion is quite viable and good too. Just trade in your current relic for a material, or maybe a scroll, or book, or some other meaningless medium with no real rhyme or reason, which will alter the 3.0 relic's stats to those of your 2.5/2.51 relic weapon, and make those stats 3.0 equivalent. In essence, just continuing what has already been worked on so hard. So yeah, both of your suggestions were really the same, only you kind of just got hung up on the punishment part. In the end, it's really the same results with the same effect. I don't think Axe was suggesting that they do away entirely with the 2.0-2.5/2.51 relic line, just that they give the option of either taking the easy way out, or putting in some work (much less work than what players who already have Zodiac have put in) to be able to customize your relic weapon.