EW Relic Grind is just a streamlined version of ARR/HW Grind

[LilimoLimomo]

With respect, OP is incorrect in 2 ways:

First, OP is ignoring all the parts of old relics that weren't doing repeated instanced content. Previous Relics always included FATES; there are no FATES here. Both ARR and Heavensward Relics contain steps where crafting and gathering were among the methods available to progress your Relic. Not here. And there were plenty of steps that required players to do a series of specific dungeons or trials, which explicitly forced variety. These are all meaningful differences.

Second, nobody was ever limited to do the same Trial over and over again; they chose to do that because it was determined to be the optimal solution to acquiring the resource. In that way, it will be no different here: an optimal solution will be found, and that's what most people will do. You've always had the choice to stray from the optimal path if you prefer otherwise.

I will say that in terms of gathering a single resource, tomestones do offer a wide variety of different ways to earn them, and in that way it does allow the possibility for different ways to farm.

But in the end I think that benefit is negated by having 3+ consecutive steps that require gathering the same resource. For most players this isn't going to encourage a variety of play, but rather means that for 3+ consecutive steps of their relic they will be doing the exact same farm. In step 1 they will choose the farm that is most optimal for them, and that's the farm they'll still be doing when they finish step 3.

If you want players to vary their play, you have to incentivize them — or force them — to do it. This was baked into the design of previous Relic quests, but it is unfortunately absent here.

[Jojoya]

If you want players to vary their play, you have to incentivize them — or force them — to do it. This was baked into the design of previous Relic quests, but it is unfortunately absent here.

I haven't seen SE mention anything stating their intent was to have players vary their play. They said they want players to choose how they earn the tomestones from our normal options.

If a player chooses only what they consider to be the most efficient route, then that's what they do. If someone wants it to be grindy, they can always run the same trial 100+ times. It's a decision the player gets to make for themselves instead of SE making it for them.

Trying to force players into specific content may result in the player not participating at all, which can lead to other problems.

There is no automatic win strategy to adopt because different players want different things. If SE's own goal is to increase player participation, this is the best way to go because the player has some control over what they do.

As many complaints as we've heard about the tomestone design, I don't think I've heard anyone say "I'm not going to participate in this because it's just a tomestone grind". That's not to say that there aren't a few, I'd be surprised if there weren't, but it doesn't seem to really be discouraging anyone from participating.

On the other hand, players who have skipped the relics in the past because they didn't like the content they were asked to do or thought it was too grindy are participating this time because they're getting to choose content that is fun to them. Because it's become fun instead of tedious, they're taking an interest in it.

Was this experiment a success in their eyes? We'll have to see how the relic series is designed next expansion assuming they don't give us a specific answer in some interview before then.