The relic weapon quest is OBSCENELY boring...

[Wournsfeik_Untawhasyn]

...

Okay, actual serious post time.

Relic was designed to be 'Time versus Difficulty', it's the extreme end of the Time Spectrum. Is the RNG associated with some of the steps punishing? Sure, but y'know, it's really the only solid example of 'hahaHA, RNG has screwed you' in this game. Raids at the extreme end are similar, but only when the weekly lockout is a thing. After that nobody cares. The thing is the reason this argument is used is it's not worthless.

You have three/four options for gear:

1. (Low Time, High Cost): A Crafted Weapon, pentamelded if you care.
2. (Middling Time, Some Cost, High Skill): Coil Gear, RNG-y but if you have T13 on farm, it'll drop eventually
3. (High Time, Some Cost, Low Skill): Relic Weapon, still RNG-y but only during specific sections, designed to be pure grind out of the request for some high end grindy content not unlike Trial of the Magians.
4. (Middling Time, Some Cost, Low Skill): Your Tome Weapon. Not hard to get, perfectly serviceable even if it's not BiS.

Considering you have three other options: then Relic as it stands now is not terrible (and yes, I spent about 1 month on 1 Atma prenerf, I remember that frustration. I'm glad the drop rate is higher, but I also remember how good it felt to get that last one)

[kupokage]

Running Qarn HM for the 20+ time hoping for that last drop brought the worst out of me. I started to scoff at any DPS/healer who qued with less than 5k HP or a tank with less than 7k, as that meant more time in there due to either small pulls or slow DPS. I que as a healer or a DPS and then rage at the tank for being a little bitch with the pulls. I que as a tank but am stuck with a i100 healer who can't handle big pulls and/or DPS who fail the cactuar mechanics. I understand we were all newbs once and I was always the first to help. But the relic grind broke me down and now I'm the one to vote kick that Sch for not casting a Shadow Flare on big pulls.

[Ashkendor]

Running Qarn HM for the 20+ time hoping for that last drop brought the worst out of me. I started to scoff at any DPS/healer who qued with less than 5k HP or a tank with less than 7k, as that meant more time in there due to either small pulls or slow DPS. I que as a healer or a DPS and then rage at the tank for being a little bitch with the pulls. I que as a tank but am stuck with a i100 healer who can't handle big pulls and/or DPS who fail the cactuar mechanics. I understand we were all newbs once and I was always the first to help. But the relic grind broke me down and now I'm the one to vote kick that Sch for not casting a Shadow Flare on big pulls.

Sounds like you need to queue up with a premade. It chucks all those worries out the window.

[Stanelis]

Okay, actual serious post time.

Relic was designed to be 'Time versus Difficulty', it's the extreme end of the Time Spectrum. Is the RNG associated with some of the steps punishing? Sure, but y'know, it's really the only solid example of 'hahaHA, RNG has screwed you' in this game. Raids at the extreme end are similar, but only when the weekly lockout is a thing. After that nobody cares. The thing is the reason this argument is used is it's not worthless.

You have three/four options for gear:

1. (Low Time, High Cost): A Crafted Weapon, pentamelded if you care.
2. (Middling Time, Some Cost, High Skill): Coil Gear, RNG-y but if you have T13 on farm, it'll drop eventually
3. (High Time, Some Cost, Low Skill): Relic Weapon, still RNG-y but only during specific sections, designed to be pure grind out of the request for some high end grindy content not unlike Trial of the Magians.
4. (Middling Time, Some Cost, Low Skill): Your Tome Weapon. Not hard to get, perfectly serviceable even if it's not BiS.

Considering you have three other options: then Relic as it stands now is not terrible (and yes, I spent about 1 month on 1 Atma prenerf, I remember that frustration. I'm glad the drop rate is higher, but I also remember how good it felt to get that last one)

You know, you could imagine something which take a while to obtain without being as boring to farm as the current zodiac weapons.

But then SE would have to actually stop trying to recycle the content you've already completed several times (having to farm fates in low level areas for atmas, as an example, was a poor joke, as you already have to farm fates to level up). Also That relic weapon was full of awful idea (who remember having to wait a few hours for a particular fate to spawn, during the animus step of the weapon ?).

The fact that SE wants something in the game to take a while to obtain doesn't imply it must be as boring as it is now.

However, it is pretty obvious that most steps of that relic are intended to make sure high level players still farm the lower level content rather to entertain the players. And that is what disturb me the most.

[Kosmos992k]

You know, you could imagine something which take a while to obtain without being as boring to farm as the current zodiac weapons.

But then SE would have to actually stop trying to recycle the content you've already completed several times (having to farm fates in low level areas for atmas, as an example, was a poor joke, as you already have to farm fates to level up). Also That relic weapon was full of awful idea (who remember having to wait a few hours for a particular fate to spawn, during the animus step of the weapon ?).

The fact that SE wants something in the game to take a while to obtain doesn't imply it must be as boring as it is now.

Or you could have taken it easy instead of grinding it out in weeks, and benefited from the enhanced Atma drop rate... :P

[DragonFlyy]

Yes, it is. The relic quest in this game is far worse than the Epic weapons I farmed for in EQ1.

SK and Beastmaster Epics, I agree. All others, this is a cake walk comparatively. I did the Cleric epic (wasn't to hard with friends) and I watch my brother do the Paladin epic (that was a POS waste of time).
Then there was my cousin. He had a monk epic. 6 months camping ONE MOB SPAWN. That is 6 months played time, not total time. Most times he would sit there and do nothing else but wait on that retarded Raster to spawn. I would rather do ALL my Zeta's then camp that mob. Would take less time too.

[Bawnawgwa]

At the launch of the game, relic weapon was just the basic relic shortly followed by +1. Then eeevvverrryoneee had to go complain how it was sooooo easy to get the relic that everyone was getting one for every job and they were no longer special wah wah wah wah.

The relic as we have it today are a direct result of the large group of people crying over how relic was too easy and quick to get. I was here at launch, I saw them, this was a big complaint at the time. Now you have a relic that takes tons of work to get and is therefore not conceivable to get for every job and is now special. Yet, no one is happy with this either. Wtf do you people want?

I do agree that the grinding of recycled content for it gets very boring and often causes me to take a couple weeks hiatus after a relic step to renew interest in the game lol. But let's all keep in mind what 2.0 is. 2.0 is a remake of the god awful mess that was 1.0. It was made in a limited amount of time and most likely resources. SE wanted it to succeed, but 1.0 hurt them quite a bit I am sure they were careful with how much money they were putting into 2.0 until they knew it would be a success. Thus, we have kind of a small world at the moment (zones are small, its a fact). And we have a lot of "content," but most of it is recycled. This would allow them to put more focus and energy into 3.0 if they didn't have to constantly dish out gamebusting new content during 2.0. We have been promised massive new zones and many other things that can add incredible new dynamics to the game in 3.0. It is my belief that 2.0 was simply limited as it was a means to recover from 1.0 and that 3.0 will get serious with content. I obviously can't know this will happen but it seems like a very likely possibility. They had a lot more time to work on 3.0 and a lot more freedom with it. So.... let's see what it brings us.

[Wournsfeik_Untawhasyn]

...

You obviously don't know how to handle a grind. While I was doing that I was catching up on my shows or listening to awesome music or working on improving my rotations. You go into these things with an extra objective in mind. You bring stuff to craft in the field or stuff to track like more SB gear. The only part that got a little annoying to handle was the FATE spawns for Animus. But I dealt with Lottery Spawn NMs in FFXI that wouldn't spawn for literally days. So to me that sounds like a hollow complaint. Nobody said you had to do Animus books, and if you weren't on the tip of Relic progression you would've had plenty of warning when you went looking into it.

The purpose of Relic is to get the most out of old content. And while I'll agree it showed some of the issues with the FATE system (that being a absolute lack of control on the player's part. None as opposed to any kind of slight nudging we can do. Even like being able to interact with something to bump up a FATE's position in the queue/FATE cooldown time), but none of it was as bad as you're making it out to be if you go in expecting the grind. I could finish an Animus book done in a Night and I only had maybe 4 hours to give. You just have to tackle it right.

[Lemuria]

Raids at the extreme end are similar, but only when the weekly lockout is a thing. After that nobody cares. The thing is the reason this argument is used is it's not worthless.

Sorry, but it remains a worthless argument.

1. (Low Time, High Cost): A Crafted Weapon, pentamelded if you care.

The best crafted weapons are level 110, which already matches Novus level on a relic. There's a lot of grind needed to even get to that stage.

2. (Middling Time, Some Cost, High Skill): Coil Gear, RNG-y but if you have T13 on farm, it'll drop eventually

Worth noting that the drops from said content are equal in level to a fully upgraded Zeta Zodiac at this stage.

4. (Middling Time, Some Cost, Low Skill): Your Tome Weapon. Not hard to get, perfectly serviceable even if it's not BiS.

This here is why the argument fails as an argument. In three weeks you can have a level 130 weapon which is stronger than a base zodiac weapon. Thats months of grind worths of content in a mere 3 weeks by comparison. Better still, it doesn't require any high skill level or grind to obtain.

The real reason the argument falls apart though is because you have STILL not justified why this has to be such a long-winded and BORING quest for such small gains. I need to wait four hours for a Fate, kill 100 enemies, do 3 dungeons and multiple levequests (which don't always appear as an option initially) for a measly +2 vitality? I have to grind 2000 light for +2 weapon strength and +3 vitality? The rewards do not match the time spent on the content.

What's worse is that people will happily eat this content up because, like a starved dog, we lack for content so any bone thrown our way seems like a massive step up from the dust we've been eating thus far. Take a long hard look at the game as a whole. How much of it is rehashed and revisited content as opposed to adding new twists and new ideas? We grind tomes by revisiting the same dungeons we've done countless times before. The same primals. The same boss fights. The same content over and over until you're sick with the stuff.

The problem is that none of these areas are remotely dynamic. They're unchanging. The same number of enemies in the same formations with the same attack patterns. It's as predictable as knowing the sun will rise in the morning. Now look at other games which offer similar content. Overworld areas being utilized for grinds, with their random spawns and dangers, dungeons with varying paths or different ways to complete them.

FFXIV has so much potential, but if it continues to play out in this manner it won't have a very long life. It's in danger of becoming so homogenized that it's indistinguishable from the crowd. It's storyline is it's most compelling aspect so far, and it has room for growth if they choose to do so. In that regard, Heavensward is looking amazing and will certainly raise the bar for future updates. That's not an excuse for the rubbish grindy mess we've got so far, and the zodiac weapons are a prime example of an idea gone horribly wrong.

Forcing players to replay old content with little to no reward isn't fun. It's a half-assed attempt to keep that old content on life support as the gear treadmill pushes players towards the higher level dungeons and away from the newbie areas. None of that issue would even exist if the content had been designed with that in mind from the start, let alone dragged along further by the constant removal of old currencies and the addition of new ones.

tl;dr. Don't excuse poor content just because it's the only content.

[starLivitation]

hope they nerf the zodiac part. i was hoping by 3.0 i would have my 2 zeta weapons , seems i am still stuck in zodiac part since they released the zodiac quest i had one active but no luck in dungens still 3 togo. i heard horror stories of 47x aurom vale. really, SE why do u force us again and again to do low level dungens to make our 125 or 135 relic? i do not see any sense in this, why don't u give us a real challange, like in FFXI we had to collect items from HNM , which are very hard and dificult notorius monsters ( bosses ) to get a certain amount of drop of them in each stage etc. while the low level part of the relic quest consisted of camping certain low level NMs ( kind of like B Rank here ) which is kind of fun and not so horrable.

SE pleasse in the future , the relic or what ever new weapon u will make ( mythic ? ) can u have it so, it has its own quest and its own content, be it fate or dungen, or quest boss what ever it is, it has to be a challange uniqe to this weapon and not a rehashed content.

i can understand the need to fill up the queues since they otherwise be dead and new players can't get dungens going in places like aurom vale or others, but seriusly this is not a good solution, plz do more content that is the way to go for new relic or other weapons quests... we are paying customers and we deserve more than to be a tool to help new players find dungen queues....