About relic weapon...

[SovereignAegis]

Let us be quite frank here though, the likelihood of any new player even bothering with the relic weapon questline when they need to start it from scratch at level 50 with a level 60 cap ... they are not going to do it.

Even at present it would take a new player months upon months to reach Zeta which is still only a level 50 weapon. (iLevel is not something most players outside of FF14 recognize, they see it as a level 50 weapon on a level 60 character.).

It would become a dead questline, obsolete and considered nothing short of pure masochism to do for a new player. And it would be consistently inferior to all other weapons that a level 60 would have access too, so it'd be punishing to the extreme and the relic questline would be dead. Lemme put it to you this way, the only way this weapon could possibly be lucrative is if it provided a 20% increase in healing/dps/tankiness/ whatever your role cares about. Even then the MONTHS of grinding... not worth it when you can spam dungeons for even 2 weeks solid (exaggeration by far) and get a roughly equivalent item.

I played FF14 ages ago (well over a year) and even then the questline was daunting with the ATMAs alone being incredibly discouraging... the quest has only gotten longer and even more punitive since then. Expecting anyone to continue that hellridden grind just to hit zeta (a level 50 weapon) and then have to do yet another link to get a level 60 weapon would be considered absolute tedium to anyone. It would basically be invisibly barred, the final relic weapon, to only those who already have Zeta- it'd be considered lunacy for a newcomer to tackle that incredible glacial task.

But anyhow why I bring myself up as the example is because I am NOT going to do the relic weapon line, even with the chunk I finished before (which was a hefty and incredibly painfully long experience) I would never in my life consider finishing it to Zeta at this point. It is excessive and punitive.

[Gallus]

snip

At this point...I think nobody's asking or expecting SE to force new players to start their relics from scratch as we all seem to agree it wouldn't be beneficial for the game.

However...

something like this:

What if the first quest for the new relic start with materia meldings and those with the Zeta can skip it with copy/paste their materias from the Zeta to the new relic?

would be very welcome and wouldn't kill anyone.

[LineageRazor]

But anyhow why I bring myself up as the example is because I am NOT going to do the relic weapon line, even with the chunk I finished before (which was a hefty and incredibly painfully long experience) I would never in my life consider finishing it to Zeta at this point. It is excessive and punitive.

As others have mentioned, I don't think SE plans for anyone to bother with the Zeta relic after the expansion hits. Not unless they make the quest ludicrously trimmed-down from what it currently is. I'm talking, all the RNG elements removed (atma purchasible for a pittance of Tomestones, for instance, Alexandrite practically free and requiring no Materia to apply stats - that kind of thing), anything that requires a lot of activity to require only a little (Nexus Lights fully charged after five dungeons! Books require one mob, one FATE, one Guildhest, and no dungeon, and only three books in total!). The quest would need to be trimmed down enough that a player could start it at level 50, and have a full-blown Zeta before level 55, all with spending only a token amount of extra time on it than they would if they weren't building one at all).

Regardless of what they do with the Zeta relic, though, there's one thing that SE needs to keep in mind: the Zeta relic process filled a crucial role in keeping lower level dungeons and FATEs populated with lots of people. Whether Zeta support is dropped entirely or simply becomes ludicrously easy, it's certain that Zeta will no longer be forcing players into old content. SE NEEDS players in old content, though, and very likely the new Heavensward relic will fill this role.

However, if holders of the old Zeta relics are not given benefits of some kind, I'm worried that this will DISCOURAGE people from bothering with the new. The old relic was a crazy grind, and the new one probably will be, too. A lot of folks after the old relic followed it because they were lead to believe that it was a weapon that would continue to evolve with them, and for a time, that was the case. Now that the Zeta has been left behind, players are going to want to be reassured that, yes, the crazy grind is worth it, and that yes, they SHOULD want to grind out the new one as well. Without it, why bother? There's lots of more entertaining ways they could be spending their time.

[Ilitsa]

(iLevel is not something most players outside of FF14 recognize, they see it as a level 50 weapon on a level 60 character.)

Many MMOs use item-level. WoW being a key one. I don't know where you find "most players" are incapable of seeing what an ilvl is, but that's not quite true.

[Lemuria]

Many MMOs use item-level. WoW being a key one. I don't know where you find "most players" are incapable of seeing what an ilvl is, but that's not quite true.

Considering we're supposed to be item level 170 by the time we hit level 60, it's not too far a stretch to say that our relics are going to be significantly outdated when Heavensward hits.

[Felis]

Considering we're supposed to be item level 170 by the time we hit level 60, it's not too far a stretch to say that our relics are going to be significantly outdated when Heavensward hits.

after hitting level 60. The first tome gear (the new darklight like gear) will be ilevel 170, not the gear we are wearing while we hit level 60.

And we know that the Zeta will be outdated for the battle at level 60. The question is how usefull it can be in the next relic quest to give the owners a compesation without that it force new players to get a Zeta for the compensation.

And the best for this is that with the materias. If the new quests also include materia melding, then the Zeta owners can skip it without that it would be unfair for the new player. Because then regardless if someone start with the 2.0 relic quest or 3.0 relic quest, the mateia part he only need to do once.

[Gralna]

I have a feeling half of those people asking this kind of questions are new to MMORPGs. It's an expansion, older stuff will most likely be useless at lv 60. You get your relic and use it in 2.X, and up to some point in 3.X (or skins if you wish). It's almost like saying farming FCoB for Dreadwyrm is insulting because there will be new gear in Heavensward.

New expansion, new stuff.

Played DAoC for twelve years, it's version of relics weapons which came out with the games 6th expansion in 2005. To this day, they are still used in endgame raiding since they are some of the best weapons in the game. Even without them, "Artifact" weapons introduced in the 3rd patch are also still considered endgame for many classes.

This is actually the first MMO I've played that just seems to throw away gear every 3-4 months.

[ExiaQuanta]

IMO I think the only reason why they haven't said anything about the new relics and the current relict stuff is so that people won't go and crash the current market and the early Heavensward market lol.

"Old relic will give you an advantage in the HW relic!"
"Oh crud! Gonna overprice my materia's cause I KNOW people are gonna rush a relic to get that one advantage >D"

[caponesavage]

I have great solution to the relic problem/question since people like myself did grind out many many hours of content to get is to have the Zeta be the base for the new HW relic only difference would be where as a person like myself can keep the secondary stats I set, players who didn't get Zeta would get a Zeta equivalent base weapon to start the HW relic but their secondary stats are preset and locked.

[Alberel]

I have great solution to the relic problem/question since people like myself did grind out many many hours of content to get is to have the Zeta be the base for the new HW relic only difference would be where as a person like myself can keep the secondary stats I set, players who didn't get Zeta would get a Zeta equivalent base weapon to start the HW relic but their secondary stats are preset and locked.

Except that would make completing the 2.0 relic a requirement because customisable stats are precisely what makes the relics so powerful.