Bozjan 5.45 - My opinion

[TaleraRistain]

Really they should not listen to savage players and give the relic a way higher ilvl from the start. Make it so you need tokken from the ex trial, weekly raid tokken or tome for gettin the highest ilvl before the next patch hits, anything, just dont let it be a fancy glowstick for 95% the expansion... please....

That goes completely against the intention. The Savage and Extreme weapons are there for those who want the faster option. The relic is the casual alternative that takes longer. And it's not glamour to a large part of the player base, ie, the player base that will use it as their actual weapon. You'd be cutting it off from its intended audience with a move like that.

[Packetdancer]

That goes completely against the intention. The Savage and Extreme weapons are there for those who want the faster option. The relic is the casual alternative that takes longer. And it's not glamour to a large part of the player base, ie, the player base that will use it as their actual weapon. You'd be cutting it off from its intended audience with a move like that.

I think it's more that you have three groups:

1. Those who want the top-tier thing and want it now, and are happy to throw themselves at challenging (savage or ultimate) content to get it. I.e., savage raiders of various stripes, etc.
2. Those who want a reasonably good thing, who don't feel up to savage/ultimate content, but are happy to grind hardcore short-term for a quick reward. The ones TaleraRistain refers to in the quoted text.
3. Those who want a potentially-outdated but visually shiny thing, who don't feel up to savage/ultimate content, and who don't feel the need to grind quickly and are happy if they get the thing several months later. These are the 'glamour players'.

(It's worth noting also that people in 1 may also want the visually shiny thing even if it's mechanically useless to them, or may want the relic because it's better than alternatives for an alt job they aren't gearing as seriously, so may fall into groups 2 or 3 in addition to being in 1. I admit to being one of those group 1 folks who is looking at the relic as a quickly-obtained viable weapon for alt jobs, thus also falling into group 2. And I like glamour, so I suppose for the jobs I don't play, I may also fall into group 3. Similarly, folks in group 2 might also be in 3 for alt jobs where they just want the glamour eventually because Shiny Weapon.)

Group 1 will go for the savage raid weapon of that tier, because they want the mechanical benefit and they want it as quickly as possible. Maybe the tomestone weapon (and augment for it) if they aren't clearing the tier yet or the augmented one is BiS for them.

Group 2 will go for the tomestone weapon maybe, though they're gated by weekly tomestone cap and needing seven of the normal-raid capstone weekly tokens. So if they want to go faster for additional jobs, they'll go for the relic weapon but go at the grind hardcore, because they want the relic while it's still Really Good (and "visually shiny" may be a factor as well). And even if it's not The Best, it's still better than many other alternatives (and even when it's outdated, you have the shiny for your glamour dresser). Some of group 2 probably look at Bozja and hey, it's just another grind, but others probably feel like needing to do new content instead of existing FATEs/duties makes the relic fall more under what would appeal to group 1.

Group 3 will go for the relic weapon at a casual pace, because they don't care about the stats or having it quickly, they just like the shiny weapon glam and it doesn't matter that much when they get it. But most of group 3, I think, wants a grind that happens naturally as a result of doing other content; maybe it takes them six months to get the relic, but it's six months where they don't need to actually do anything different, and just pick up crystals as a result of doing roulettes or FATEs, maybe with sidelining to doing specific ones for an hour or so once a week. So Bozja feels like a big wall put up in their path.

So people aren't going to agree on what the relic weapon actually is -- is it meant for group 2, who will tackle a challenge with determination to get a reward quickly, but don't want to deal with savage/ultimate content? Is it meant for group 3, as something you can get really as a side-effect of doing what you already do, even if it takes a very long time? Etc. And as a result, they certainly aren't going to agree on whether the process here is suitable or not.

(And this isn't helped by the fact that, while Square-Enix communicated the requirement ahead of time to advance the Bozjan story, they did not do so in a particularly clear manner. Meaning many people feel misled about what the relic grind would require, or even as though they were actively lied to or betrayed about said requirements.)

I personally think the relic weapon is targeted a bit more at group 2 than 3, and that having a bit of a system you have to engage with and progress to gain it is perfectly fine. (I also think that people's fears of Castrum and Delubrum are the bigger hindrance than the actual duties are, but that's both the fault of the game's skill at making relatively simple mechanics look flashy and intimidating like a stage magician doing one thing to distract you while they set up their trick... and also perhaps only tangentially related to this discussion.)

But I also recognize that this is my opinion, not any sort of objective fact. And I feel like that part is what we're often forgetting/overlooking in the conversation around Bozja and the Resistance weapons; unless the developers outright step in and explicitly state their intent, all we have is opinions. Which are not necessarily going to all be in alignment.