[request] increase Alexandrite fate drop rate

[Lemuria]

If you ask me, the whole relic quest needs to be trivialized. It's way too grindy, especially in its early stages, and for a weapon that's only equal in strength to equipment you could earn in a single day! You need 75 Alexandrite for your weapon. and 75 pieces of materia in varying grades. The materia requirement alone is enough of a barrier to prevent easy access except to the very wealthy, so it doesn't need to be so hard to find the catalysts.

Think of how the grind has worked to this point. You grind to get Atma. You grind to get soldiery tomes for your books, then grind to complete those too. That's just for the level 100 weapon, something you could purchase with a fraction of the soldiery costs of the books you've paid for! The next stage is to grind away endlessly for alexandrite, either by completing a daily map (1 per day, 75 days to complete!) or buying maps with YET MORE SOLDIERY! Heavens forbid you might want to actually spend that soldiery elsewhere.

The alternative? Grind Fates. I think people would mind less if it didn't matter which job you were on, but it does. You need to be on your job with the zodiac equipped for... reasons. So you don't benefit in any tangible way aside from some pocket change and a handful of seals which stopped being useful when we reached the cap on GC ranks.

So, yes... the relic quest needs to be made easier or at the very least we need more options as to where we can pick up alexandrite. There's a mountain of work to even get an entry-level weapon. So while everyone else is wielding Bartang and beyond, You're stuck with your pitiful level 100 weapon while you grind away at mysterious maps and pray to Hydaelyn than your alexandrite will drop.

...and that's before I talk about the light grinding... hoo boy.

[seida]

If you ask me, the whole relic quest needs to be trivialized.

It's supposed to be a LEGENDARY WEAPON. It does NOT need to be "trivialised". Every stage has already been nerfed. How much more do people want to be babied? Grab one of the many weapon alternatives if relic is too much effort. No one is entitled to have one.

[LaurelinKementari]

It's supposed to be a LEGENDARY WEAPON. It does NOT need to be "trivialised". Every stage has already been nerfed. How much more do people want to be babied? Grab one of the many weapon alternatives if relic is too much effort. No one is entitled to have one.

Except these 'Legendary Weapons' offer zero advantage over any of the other available weapons to justify the heaps of work they require to make. The reward does not equal the work put into it. One can harvest all Shiva Ex weapons and uprgade them to Diamond status in the time it takes a normal player to make one Nexus Relic. In some cases a Diamon weapon is even better than a Nexus, unless it is fully and perfectly melded, which few people can afford. What sense does that make? Sure, you have the Zodiac to get to i125, but once they add the next tomestones and carbontwine to WoD, everybody will be having a much better Ironworks weapon that requires far less effort to get. By the time the last Zodiac step rolls around that'll put them at i135 (or 130), a freshly arrived lvl 50 player will be much quicker learning T5, T9 and T13 to get a Dreadwyrm weapon instead of going through all Relic stages to get the final Zodiac one. And even if he did, what advantage would this 'Legendary weapon' offer him over a Dreadwyrm weapon, besides a few secondary stats that are neglectable in his DPS/Tanking/Healing output?

[Nekodar]

Except these 'Legendary Weapons' offer zero advantage over any of the other available weapons to justify the heaps of work they require to make. The reward does not equal the work put into it.

Relic weapons have been upgraded from i80 to currently i125 in various steps... And are currently customizable to suit your other gear better. As content gets harder, relic gets stronger.
The highest you can currently get as alternative without going into final coil is i115 with non-customizable stats or i110 crafted that you can somewhat customize with materia.
The chance that a fresh 50 can "just learn" T5, T9 and T13 AND get the relevant drops in less time that it takes to complete a relic is extremely low.

[LaurelinKementari]

Relic weapons have been upgraded from i80 to currently i125 in various steps... And are currently customizable to suit your other gear better. As content gets harder, relic gets stronger.
The highest you can currently get as alternative without going into final coil is i115 with non-customizable stats or i110 crafted that you can somewhat customize with materia.
The chance that a fresh 50 can "just learn" T5, T9 and T13 AND get the relevant drops in less time that it takes to complete a relic is extremely low.

Bull. The much touted 'stat customization' of the relic is trivialised by the fact that only the richest can do it, thanks to SE thinking it was a fantastic idea to add RNG for the melds, after it already took a few eons to gather all 75 alexandrite. Most people don't go for the full melds simply because it is not worth the cost or the effort. A Diamon Spear will easily trump the average Gae Bolg Nexus, simply due to the fact that Diamond Spear has full secondary stats whereas most people don't fully meld their Novus because of the costs for tier IV materia. Even if you spiritbond all your materia yourself so you don't have to buy it, it's still gonna take forever to get all materia you need, on top of the immense hours of grinding for your Nexus light, followed by more materia spiritbonding to max meld all your crafters so you can craft your Zodiac weapon, which is again coupled to a super-fun RNG dungeon grind for boss drops.

Be honest, if someone fresh at lvl 50 asked you what weapon to get, would you honestly suggest they go for the Zodiac one? When they can run Syrcus Tower for Unidentified Tomestones and get a soldiery weapon, or Shiva Extreme for a Diamond one, much faster and much easier? Sure, the hardcore, pure bis player will go for it. A casual player, however, will not. Relic weapon was touted as the weapon for the casual player to get over time, except the insane amounts of work and grinding with its meagre rewards for a Zodiac weapon is something only a hardcore player will do. At least for those who want the weapon when it is still relevant. Any other sane player would say 'eff that feces', and who could honestly blame them, when it's barely worth it?

And? So don't do it. Why do all weapons have to be available for the same amount of effort...? as you point out, there are many other strong weapons available. If relic is too much effort for you, get one of those.

For exactly this very reason. Relic offers no advantage over the other weapons, so why does it take such a ridiculous amount of work? For glamour? Well, so much for the 'legendary weapons!' when they've been reduced to insanely grindy glamour. It has nothing to do feeling 'entitled' to one. It is simply a case of the rewards not measuring up to the amount of work put into it, especially when compared to other content of the same level. What is so hard to understand about that?

[seida]

stuff

Well, of course you get to customise the stats, but apparently that's too much effort for you as well.

What's hard to understand is why it bothers people so much. If you don't think the rewards measure up, don't do it. Isn't that simple? But no, that fact that a weapon exists that takes a lot of effort to get, but you personally don't think it's worth the effort, SE CHANGE IT FOR US SO IT MATCHES MY OWN EXPECTATIONS OF HOW MUCH I THINK IT IS WORTH.

Lots of people enjoy doing the relic chain as a side project. Why ruin their fun because you think it isn't worth it?

People who think it's worth it will do it. Those that don't, don't. What's so hard to understand about that?

[LaurelinKementari]

Well, of course you get to customise the stats, but apparently that's too much effort for you as well.

I did Novus twice, hun, up to a near max-meld for my Gae Bolg. Doesn't mean I have to think the quest is well designed or worth it, or that I won't advocate changes to it. Nexus is no longer bis, the work no longer matches the reward, especially with Diamond weapons around. It is time for it to be changed. People will still struggle to get their Zodiac, so I don't get why you're so allergic to Novus and Nexus being put on equal footing with the other weapons of their ilvl. I'm not advocating SE adds a 'free Nexus' button, as people always accuse people pro-nerf of. I'm proposing reasonable changes to a weapon that is outdated content. Scrap the RNG of the Novus melds and the weapon will have some appeal again over its ilvl 110 counterparts, besides just glamour.

[seida]

Except these 'Legendary Weapons' offer zero advantage over any of the other available weapons to justify the heaps of work they require to make. The reward does not equal the work put into it.

And? So don't do it. Why do all weapons have to be available for the same amount of effort...? if it makes you feel better, consider it time-consuming glamour.

I don't understand why people act like relic is compulsory... as you point out, there are many other strong weapons available. If relic is too much effort for you, get one of those.

As I have said before, relic is a nice side project for those with extra time.

But people love to complain about totally optional things they apparently feel entitled to for minimum effort.