The relic weapon quest is OBSCENELY boring...

[Steady]

To the original question. Relics are historically a grind fest. Whether dodging lightning in FFX or collecting coins and such in FFXI.

If you can't get a great weapon with skill, you can get it with time.

Mythics in FFXI were the same way.. as were Abyssean weapons.

Your not required to do them, but if you want it, you put in your time.

[Kosmos992k]

It is the most grindy, tedious, monotonous, bland thing I have seen in any MMO I have ever played, and I've played Lineage 1.

It's one thing to do a lot of stuff that's either fun or at LEAST challenging.

It's entirely another to give us a checklist of random, boring, unchallenging crap and tell us to hop to it...

Perhaps you missed the memo that pointed out that this is one of three paths to upgrade your weapon, and was/is designed to be a long grind - to represent the long path towards upgrading such a special weapon as the relic. It's also designed for players who do not raid, so that they can upgrade their relics simply by playing the game over time, rather than by engaging in specific end-game content such as the Coils, or EX mode primals.

If it's such a boring grind, don't do it, and instead go for one of the other options.

[Kiara]

Again though, that was targeted at the concept of the old school grind. The feeling of progression being a huge part of the reward with this model... Isn't there that sense of relief that not only did you get it, but you have thus "beat" the system by avoiding the unforeseen amount of time it would have otherwise took? That's the old school reward system, which is actually why MMORPGs were so dear to people in the past. It gave you all of these senses and emotions lol. You legitimately celebrate when you beat the odds... usually. Animus does not do this for most people, simply because you can track it (the primary difference between the two).

I agree about being able to track your progress effectively being a lot more friendly (to the extent that you can more or less predict when you'll finish). That's the newer model of MMORPGs. For today's generation, that's kind of what people expect.

Hi Welsper,

Some great thoughts about the differing systems. I would say one factor to add into the discussion about the "Old School Grind" vs. tracking progress is:

* Vertical Progression with Fast Item Level Changes undermine the Grind.

I don't mind the Old School Grind (like finally getting your drop from Nidhogg, or FF XI's Relic Grind (early years) (OK, the currency grind was TOO long, but the general steps were OK)), but it doesn't work with Yoshi P's current Vertical Progression Pace.

I did enjoy the sense of accomplishment and relief when you finally earned a drop off a Rare NM and you knew that item was going to be BiS for a long time.

But with Item Level inflation the way it is in FF XIV, it makes EVERYTHING you earn feel like "disposable gear" / worthless every ~5 - 6 months.

Note for those that have only played with these newer WoW-inspired methods: With Horizontal Progression you *can* have plenty of New Gear as well. Sure there might be some that are truly "the best in slot," but with proper balancing the other gear (same Item Level, but with different unique stats) would still be meaningful and useful to get (while you try and get the most desired version).

[Magusrex]

I think it is pure genius that gets experienced players queuing up for low level dungeons, nothing worse for a new player than not being able to find anyone to do content they need to to do to progress the story. I would expect this to continue. I like the relic quest btw.

[RichardButte]

Things are only challenging when you are learning it. Once you get stuff on farm it is not one bit challenging

Tell that to people who know a fight, have cleared it, and can yet still screw up.

The level of challenge in in a HM primal fight vs. the level of challenge from running fates aren't even in the same universe.

[RichardButte]

Perhaps you missed the memo that pointed out that this is one of three paths to upgrade your weapon

Perhaps you didn't read the remainder of the thread.

Alternative options don't excuse this option for being bland, uninspired and clearly done better in other MMOs.

[Kosmos992k]

Perhaps you didn't read the remainder of the thread.

Alternative options don't excuse this option for being bland, uninspired and clearly done better in other MMOs.

Your opinion not withstanding, it was my understanding that the relic quests were designed to be a time sink and grind. The fact that there are multiple options available means that it's not necessary for all options to be appealing to all players. As for being bland, uninspired and/or clearly better done, those are quite subjective assessments and not facts.

[FranSeara]

!!!!!!!135!!!!! is all I have to say

[NyarukoW]

Tell that to people who know a fight, have cleared it, and can yet still screw up.

Watching a video does not equal knowing. Clearing once does not equal mastering it. When people can do it in their sleep is when they stop screwing up. Basically it has to get to the point where is automatic. And then the only reason for screwing up is being distracted/loss of concentration, or literally sleeping.

The level of challenge in in a HM primal fight vs. the level of challenge from running fates aren't even in the same universe.

Have you see Garuda HM lately? It is no different from running fates, they all just burn Garuda with AOE spams and ignore everything else.

-------------

But the relic quests a grindy as heck because there are select group of players that like stuff like that. SE is throwing them a bone, and in the process they get to assist other players with old content.

[ZephyrK]

Did this patch change anything in the previous steps of this questline?