Quote Originally Posted by RyuDragnier View Post
The thing is, it's been like this since the beginning. The original ARR relic unlocked the HM primals, Chimera, and the Hydra, and you had to do ALL of them to get the relics, as well as run a bunch of other optional side content like HM dungeons. The relic quest and initial unlocks have been like this since the beginning, and hasn't changed in that aspect. You either accept this and do it anyway, or you do not and you never touch the relic. Those are the options here.
I think you misunderstand, Hydra and Chimera were unlocked as a consequence of doing the relic itself. There were no prerequisites to the ARR relic other than beating 2.0. Hard modes you could unlock prior to doing the relic, and while they are required, they were not needed before the actual relic started unless you wanted them or had ilvl issues trying to complete the other hard modes. The issue deals with prerequisites, not doing other pieces of content for the relic after the relic has been opened up.