it took me about 500 FATEs over the course of 6 months to get the Atma's for one weapon. That is ridiculous.

I gave up on it afterwards. It wasn't until recently that I picked it back up and have painstakingly moved through 7 Animus books. After about a years worth of un-needed hunt seals I already have about 60 Alexandrite saved up. All that an Atma felt like for me was one step closer to the end of the stage with no reward because the thing doesn't even get increased stats from the Zenith.

Coupled with the fact that back in the day, after all that crap, you got to do the Animus books which could take 4 hours for a FATE to spawn just to complete a book and get a measly stat upgrade. Coil was much more rewarding for the time invested.