The Current Status of FFXIV Patch 3.1 and How to Address it Moving Forward

[Alahra]

Alahra, as I mentioned I did all but the last two steps pre-nerf, so including the alexandrite grind. 23 days to do it, about a week before HW hit when it became 5x Alex per map.

I'm a bit confused as to when you did your Alexandrite, but if you finished that part about a week before HW, it had already become a lot easier to acquire. The maps cost half as many tomestones if I remember correctly (400 Soldiery), and Soldiery was available at roughly twice the rate that Mythology was when Novus was first introduced (for an effective cost of 1/4 the Tomestones per map). If you got Alexandrite from FATEs, they had also by this time significantly increased the drop rate. So it might have taken you 23 days to do it, but you weren't doing it when it was at its most grueling (whereas you're discussing Anima when it is at its most grueling).