New Relic weapon quest - are we down to 1 hour content already?

[Barraind]

So, with that said, lets look at the first relic steps again and see what they added to the game:

The first release of the HW and ARR relics released more than 1 step, so your table is off (and more than just a little flawed)

Also, those were on step 4 or 5 by the .25 patch.

[Vidu]

The first release of the HW and ARR relics released more than 1 step, so your table is off (and more than just a little flawed)

Also, those were on step 4 or 5 by the .25 patch.

They still added nothing to the game in terms of new, playable content, though (with the mentioned exception of Hydra and Chimera)?

All they did - and that was my point - was adding a grind related to already existing, often pretty old content (I mentioned the step that HW added in 3.25: Running the ARR-24-man-raid for 5 weeks if you didnt want to cough up the poetics). All they added were a few items to be earned by means that had been established long before the relic quest (the glorious end of the HW relic sent you back to do Garuda HM again!). Those relic quests were nothing more than a grind in order to revive old content. It generated playtime, but no new content.

If you disagree with this assessment, I'd be curious to hear what actual new, playable content was added for the ARR and HW relics? Other than a few speachbubbles and your next reason to farm old dungeons for poetics/light/random/drops/just to complete the quest.

Arguing we got "less content" because the relic quest was completed faster simply isnt true when the old quest only took longer because they made you repeat old and outdated content.

[Lersayil]

They still added nothing to the game in terms of new, playable content, though (with the mentioned exception of Hydra and Chimera)?

All they did - and that was my point - was adding a grind related to already existing, often pretty old content (I mentioned the step that HW added in 3.25: Running the ARR-24-man-raid for 5 weeks if you didnt want to cough up the poetics). All they added were a few items to be earned by means that had been established long before the relic quest (the glorious end of the HW relic sent you back to do Garuda HM again!). Those relic quests were nothing more than a grind in order to revive old content. It generated playtime, but no new content.

If you disagree with this assessment, I'd be curious to hear what actual new, playable content was added for the ARR and HW relics? Other than a few speachbubbles and your next reason to farm old dungeons for poetics/light/random/drops/just to complete the quest.

Arguing we got "less content" because the relic quest was completed faster simply isnt true when the old quest only took longer because they made you repeat old and outdated content.

If you don't consider grind content, then yes, I guess you are correct.

This relic step clearly used up more dev resources... but on the other hand, it barely adds anything to our daily playtime. Judging in a vacuum its a questionable use of resources. The investment will only bare fruit in later steps.

For the moment its a lot of dev work for an EX trial, roughly an hour of story, and a few incentives to do poetics roulettes... which many people do anyways.

[Vidu]

If you don't consider grind content, then yes, I guess you are correct.

This relic step clearly used up more dev resources... but on the other hand, it barely adds anything to our daily playtime. Judging in a vacuum its a questionable use of resources. The investment will only bare fruit in later steps.

For the moment its a lot of dev work for an EX trial, roughly an hour of story, and a few incentives to do poetics roulettes... which many people do anyways.

I dont consider a grind content, yes - I would consider a grind an incentive to do content. The relic quests in ARR and HW were basically one huge incentive for us to go through whatever outdated content needed reviving. Sending us back into LotA, ST and WoD didnt mean we got three new 24-man raids that patch, it just meant we got a reason to go back to content that was over a year old at that point.

To me getting some new content, developed specifically for the relic quest (with an actual meaning in regards to the quest - not some flimsey excuse like "You get light from killing lots of things" or "This person will only exchange the stuff you need for this specific item that you can find in this dungeon that you've visited 50 times already but never saw the item in question") is much more preferable and does a relic weapon more justice than just being an excuse to bolster our daily playtime and shorten queues .

But I generally like quality over quantatiy - I would have done my daily grind, had the relic quest required me to run an alliance roulette and collect the daily rewards 10 times (or whatever nonsense they could have come up with only to generate playtime, not to actually add anything meanigful), but it would have felt very... unispired to me and more like "Ah, this is the current content not enough people are queuing for... okay...".
I understand the disapointment when comparing Stormblood and Shadowbringers - I dont understand it in regards to HW and ARR... I'm happy the relic quest has become something of its own - and isnt stuck being a way to make us repeat Wanderers Palace.

[DBriggs304]

I would agree about a grind not being content. I spent an hour in eureka last night and it was fooking awful. Not one crystal dropped.

And one point, I thought "What is the point of this?" All of this for a fancy glamour? It's running around on one big map mindlessly killing things and tapping a little board to make it easier. I dont mind a reasonable gring but some relic steps have been ridiculous and Eureka overall fits that description.

If it means waiting longer for more interesting things to do with the relic over that, I'm all for it (eventhough we know something crazy is coming for ShB relic requirements)

[LaylaTsarra]

I would agree about a grind not being content. I spent an hour in eureka last night and it was fooking awful. Not one crystal dropped.

You trying to get a protean crystal for the first quest? If so you need to chain mobs slightly higher than yourself. Also if you're in a party you can't be with people more than 6 levels higher than you for mob kills. That doesn't apply to NM's given you have to level sync those but the drops are based on your level cause you won't get stuff from high level fates if you're low level.

Relative to Anemos if that's where you are you should focus on challenge log. You can solo that easily and a full Eureka challenge log will get you close to level 14. As you level up you can join NM trains for Anemos Crystals and other related NM drops like minions and other items. You'll only get protean crystals from individual mob kills and need to do NM's for Anemos crystal drops.

The fact you can solo mobs easily now and ride a mount at level 1 make the content immensely easier than it was upon release.

[DBriggs304]

You trying to get a protean crystal for the first quest? If so you need to chain mobs slightly higher than yourself. Also if you're in a party you can't be with people more than 6 levels higher than you for mob kills. That doesn't apply to NM's given you have to level sync those but the drops are based on your level cause you won't get stuff from high level fates if you're low level.

Relative to Anemos if that's where you are you should focus on challenge log. You can solo that easily and a full Eureka challenge log will get you close to level 14. As you level up you can join NM trains for Anemos Crystals and other related NM drops like minions and other items. You'll only get protean crystals from individual mob kills and need to do NM's for Anemos crystal drops.

The fact you can solo mobs easily now and ride a mount at level 1 make the content immensely easier than it was upon release.

So far, I made it to level 7 but sheesh. I'll stick with it for a while longer to see if it gets better, but that might be one relic my hume & lala wont see

[LaylaTsarra]

Focus on your Challenge log if you're doing it alone there is a ton of experience there. Challenge lot helps a lot even when you're in other zones. People usually do challenge in Anemos because you are level synced and the mobs are easier to locate and there are groups doing them especially if you do it early in the week after reset. Good luck.

[Moomba33]

ShB is lacking in casual, repeatable battle content. SE seems to have invested a lot of resources into story (which I like!), and crafting & gathering (which I like less....) and perhaps the ARR revamp.

SE did tell us that the first relic step would be quick. However as someone that enjoys having a relaxed grind to fill time between patches it is disappointing to me that there wasn't more.

[SamRF]

ShB is lacking in casual, repeatable battle content. SE seems to have invested a lot of resources into story (which I like!), and crafting & gathering (which I like less....) and perhaps the ARR revamp.

SE did tell us that the first relic step would be quick. However as someone that enjoys having a relaxed grind to fill time between patches it is disappointing to me that there wasn't more.

What about the fate grinds though, as far as I'm aware, other expansions didn't have such (long) grind at launch of their expansion. I think that may have played a part in descision to make first relic step quick.

Even after you maxed fate level of each zone, you can still decide to grind for materia and make some gil, at least if you're DoW/DoM only. Better ways to make gil for sure but its not completely worthless infinite grinding I'd say.

Don't get me wrong though, I'd much rather had this first relic step be grindy as well.