The Lessons Not Learned.

[Nezerius]

I just turned in my 2.0 relic, was done instantly.

This may come as a surprise to you, but not everyone was running around with a Zeta relic by the time 3.15 was released.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

This may come as a surprise to you, but not everyone was running around with a Zeta relic by the time 3.15 was released.

I had 3 of them by then lol. All done before each step was nerfed.

Same with the Animas, tho I have them all completed now. Ironically, I have none from eureka that are fully completed, tho slowly working on the bozja ones as I did all my DR runs before 6.0 released.

The only "hard part" about eureka was leveling up. The rest was just grind fates for items and get relic... Once leveled you could finish a relic in a day if you really wanted to.

[DPZ2]

This may come as a surprise to you, but not everyone was running around with a Zeta relic by the time 3.15 was released.

I suspect that you were one of them, however. Especially since you remember the 2.0 grind for the initial Zodiac relic weapon.

[Nezerius]

Yeah, the 2 1/2 hours I spent running FATEs in a single day were totally significant. It was problematic as well, since I ended up with 5 'extra' crystals that I didn't really want for the next job's grind. They're still in a retainer's bags somewhere I think.

Oh sure, you must've hardcore grinded for those Crystals when that first step was released. In fact, you must've put in so much effort that you were completely burned out to even bother with the 2nd or 3rd step!

I suspect that you were one of them, however. Especially since you remember the 2.0 grind for the initial Zodiac relic weapon.

You "suspect" that I was one of them, despite me stating that I finished three Zeta weapons during ARR. How exactly does this change my point that the majority went into Heavensward without one?

[DPZ2]

Oh sure, you must've hardcore grinded for those Crystals when that first step was released. In fact, you must've put in so much effort that you were completely burned out to even bother with the 2nd or 3rd step!

Hardcore grind? Hardly. 20-30 FATEs in a few hours was a normal weekend activity for me in HW seven years ago. I took one look at the relic, didn't like the look and abandoned any further relic grinding. I had been burned once before when I lost my nice glowing bow after the 2nd phase back in ARR and abandoned that. Since then, I've had a number of show-glowy weapons that, somehow, just don't seem all that worthwhile.

[SannaR]

This may come as a surprise to you, but not everyone was running around with a Zeta relic by the time 3.15 was released.

Anecdotal evidence much? Just because you somehow didn't notice a lot of people not owning a Zeta by the time the HW relics started doesn't mean a lot of people had at least one. I remember people starting it and groaning about Atma farm 2.0 only to stop groaning the instant someone said they could just hand over their Zeta. Cause they could just go and skip the fate grind. I don't think I heard a lot of grumbling about HW til needing the sand.

I'm just glad any "materia" slotting in stopped with the ARR one. And really you got the base weapon for the ARR one fairly easily since the starter you just needed to get it crafted and have the correct tier three materia melded.