Eureka is meant for casual players.

[TarynH]

1. You cannot compare FFXI relics to FFXIV.

That's all you took from that? I'm not comparing the two at all. I'm simply stating that in games where the "grind" weapon is supposed to be the end all, it usually is. And it usually is, because of the time invested. FFXIV relics are also a longer grind than learning a raid. In my opinion, the raid weapons are the third shortest route, and should be the 2nd highest.

Relic
Raid
Tomes/Crafted (since they continually want to place craft items in with tomes)

That should be the order at all stages, based on current history of time spent acquiring one. But instead, with this game, it's all over the place. And it constantly causes unwanted conflict between controversially-named "hardcore" and "casual" players.

If there was true equality in the game's gear, there would be alternative routes to acquire same-level gear in all stages. But instead we have arbitrary values placed on all of it, and it's always a vertical progression, with each set being in its own vacuum. There is no lateral progression at all.