Quote Originally Posted by Vnolan View Post
Probably it. Before Anemos, what was the last relic step that involved a somewhat lengthy grind?

The last step of the previous relic was running hard mode primals. The one before that was a light grind. What was the most efficient method of grinding light? Determining if A1S was on bonus, getting a party together and then proceeding to run it as many times as possible within that two-hour window. A1S had Faust (striking dummy) and The Oppressor. Because of the disparity in ilvls, the only mechanics Oppressor had were a line AoE and puddles that remained on the field. Practicing a rotation over and over, boring content, no chance to take a break without slowing progress. Sound familiar? This step only took about 7 hours, though.

Before the light step was cluster acquisition with a daily and weekly quest for clusters, eliminating any need to grind for tomes unless you wanted the weapon immediately.

However, before the cluster step was the umbrite/crystal sand step. This required a maximum of 24,000 tomes for umbrite, with no alternative to get the umbrite. What was the efficient method for farming umbrite? Aetherochemical Research Facility until the sight of it made you sick. Each run took around 20 minutes. This step involved a lengthy grind, but it was released In June 2016 - over two years ago.
While those were the most common ways, when I did those I did not run A1S a single time, and maybe ran ARF once. You had the option to grind the same thing over and over like a maniac, but you could also do plenty of other things. And maybe people spamming A1S with a static couldn't take a break, but I could stop whenever I wanted and do everything at my own pace.