Quote Originally Posted by Nezerius View Post
You mean Stormblood happened. More specifically Pagos (but also Anemos to a lesser extent). Pagos was absolutely disliked on its release. Mainly for its slower spawn rate of NMs, and the fact that it put a higher emphasis on getting a chain bonus up to 30 without breaking it (which was almost carpal tunnel inducing). Anemos was generally regarded as boring. Most people quickly ended up on NM trains, where the majority of the train wasn't even able to help spawn NMs.

The general opinion regarding both of these zones, is that players disliked being forced into them as the only option to progress their relics. Players preferred having multiple options to progress their relic, rather than an instanced zone with a singular goal.
This is exactly why ShB's Resistance weapons didn't have their progress exclusively tied to the Bozjan Southern Front/Zadnor. But even with this system, there was a portion of the playerbase who disliked the fact that they were forced to complete Castrum Lacus Litore.

So they gave players what they were asking for during SB/ShB.
In other words....no matter what, they cant win.
-They do something: People complain
-They try a new thing: People complain
-They try something completely new taking in feedback: People complain, saying how its locked to 1 system and its slow
-They retry it, taking in feedback allowing more paths to goal: People complain, say they liked old way
-Do something else: People complain it should be like last time

No matter what, they cant win.