Why is "It's something to do" apparently a valid defense?

[AzureFlare]

Stuff.

How I would've done it different:
Include Crystal Tower, maybe some of Coil (unsynced?). Some actual non-specialist crafting/gathering? Heaven forbid I say it, actual exploration in Diadem over grinding monsters?

Like, we all know relic is also there to give a boost to content that isn't popular (anymore) or to help queues for things that are sort of necessary but taking really long for newer/less regular players. Relic didn't really achieve anything in that aspect.
Alexander was still being done to gear alts or new people and the queue times for it are definitely not bad at all, beastmen dailies had their own carrot already (especially Vanu). Crafting had its own carrot already too for plenty of people but since dungeon gear is dropped like candy and HQ crafted items were regular quest rewards and shoehorning specialist recipes is a real kick in the face. The dungeons are definitely not underplayed past level 50 but they buffed them so much and altered FATEs in no way to guarantee they are worthwhile in a party more so than dungeons, they killed that completely on their own. And treasure maps.. sort of do too actually, just nobody needs to really find a group for it since you can do them in parties of 2 fairly easily and the rewards can be pretty bad.

Even if I can justify defending the relic, I don't see who would like this over a Cookie Clicker minigame. I don't see the new players winning and I don't see the veterans winning. I don't even see anyone winning in-between except the people that want to try out FATEs. That is probably the only thing they got right and it can be skipped anyway. The whole thing just feels like SE telling us 'we'll give you a relic, but first you must help this wounded critter!' and then they give us either perfectly healthy critters or dead critters.

[Dyvid]

How I would've done it different:
Include Crystal Tower, maybe some of Coil (unsynced?). Some actual non-specialist crafting/gathering? Heaven forbid I say it, actual exploration in Diadem over grinding monsters?

Like, we all know relic is also there to give a boost to content that isn't popular (anymore) or to help queues for things that are sort of necessary but taking really long for newer/less regular players. Relic didn't really achieve anything in that aspect.

This is exactly my line of thinking. There is no need to grind so much of content people are already running anyway, Alex:N, but should have focused on stuff people really don't much of like CT, Coil, EX, Treasure Maps, Old Hunts. Could have even tossed MGP and PvP into the mix.

[AzureFlare]

This is exactly my line of thinking. There is no need to grind so much of content people are already running anyway, Alex:N, but should have focused on stuff people really don't much of like CT, Coil, EX, Treasure Maps, Old Hunts. Could have even tossed MGP and PvP into the mix.

Honestly, out of all the things, that is the part that annoys me the most. From a scrubby designer's point of view, relic quest was never really about the player's reward, but about the player's interaction with the content (as is most stuff), especially with old and unused content. That was pretty much the beauty of the old relic past 2.0, liven up the world and the content that needed living up. And they completely missed it.