The way I see it, there needs to be a long grind to keep this game moving. I do feel they could have done things a bit differently, of course, but I also respect that SE do more for FFXIV than (to my knowledge) any other MMO developer out there when it comes to content per major patch.

Some people seem to think this should have been something that can be completed in a day or two, and some people seem to think this should have been tougher content instead of a long grind. My response to those people would be: You mean, just like all the other content we have in the game already?

Some people hold the criticism of it being unoriginal - we've already done this before. Yes, that's true, and I can see that argument but I also do feel that they are pushing content that has been underutilised, which is a common thing for relic. Still, at least they aren't forcing us to all have Pedigree 9 chocobos.

Some people say that it should have been fresh content, like a series of new trials similar to the old Chimera/Hydra fights. That I can get behind! It would be nice to have at least one fight that was unique to relic.

Some people have stated that they just feel it is too much work grinding away, and these are the people who confuse me most. The entire point of relic is that it is a different kind of weapon that takes time to get, not one that you simply spam your way to in a couple of days (although holy crap at how fast some are pushing through it already). If you wanted something fast, wouldn't you just get one of the other i210 weapons? I suspect we'll see a lot of people with i210 relic soon though - there is no lockout other than time spent working on it, to my knowledge.

My main query to those who want it done differently would be "How would you have done it?"

Personally, my biggest gripe with SE is that they aren't putting out those player surveys they used to a long time ago. I do feel a player survey is well overdue. They used those surveys to get a really good idea of what the players wanted, and they delivered. I just feel SE could use some further guidance on what the players want now, and I don't feel the forums on their own are good enough to give them this information. Perhaps problems like we're seeing here could have been avoided.