Sure, it's grind, sure, it's braindead content, sure... that's what grind is...

But what exactly did you all expect ? That's the relic... The relic has always been a hell of a grind. Wanna go back to atmas ? Books ? Hundreds of time the same four gordias NM instances ? That's relic. With a diadem aspect. And it's still more fun than atmas were, IMO... so yeah, maybe your expectations were off.