Quote Originally Posted by RyuDragnier View Post
Actually, back in ARR (meaning when it was current content) you could only unlock those Hard Modes for the primals if you started the grind for the relic. They were not optional, they could only be unlocked by the relic questline.
The unlock quest for the hard modes back in the ARR era was A Recurring Problem. This has never changed since 2.0. I have been around since September 2013 but never posted on the forums until earlier this year as i have never seen the need to. You absolutely needed to compete the Hard Modes to unlock The Binding Coil of Bahamut but they were never gated by relic.