I actually didnt mind the shiny glowing relics tbh, but thats just me. TBF i have a feeling that the glow will intensify the more its upgraded, after seeing some of these +11 statted weapons/armor, i get this onimusha/souls vibe that you can either spend exp/bonus points to augment the weapon or armor. Special skills-cool, but i was kinda sad to see that the crossbars have no new abilities and from the looks of it will suffer from level sync(learn the same skills, in order starting at level 1)