The relics have always been casual, there is no way you can look at me with a straight face and say that doing fate spam is not casual. It's always been casual.
I think this might be the problem here, people who are convinced they aren't casuals are hyping up the old relics as if they were somehow elite to finish them or the relic gatekept people from completing. They didn't. It was an annoyance but it was still casual content.