A Different Approach to Relics

[strawberrycake]

My issue with the tome solution, isn't that it doesn't work, or that I do not have choice. When you take the tome solution, yes I have the physical choice to do as I please to grind, my issue is the community at large. The community will always dictate what is easiest and only do that when you have the *choice* to gain tomes from anything, conversely, if you make the solution to gaining your relic require the bare minimum, it doesn't matter what you do.

I want the progression to getting my relic to be fun and meaningful content, solo or with the community, I want it to be something memorable. But if we go the tome route, theres no way to keep the community at least on NA, from gravitating to the easiest farmable thing and that being the only way, or the means of me getting my weapon being a braindead non-grind for the sake of appealing to the lowest common denominator.

My personal Solution is creating involved zone or world based content, similar to Zadnor and Bozja and Eureka, and having this Relic Step start at least at the X.1 of each patch, then at the X.X.5 of each patch. they introduce the alternative and it's just 1500 tomes, and requires no work for those who do not want to grind. I feel it's fairest approach and makes it so that gaining the relic later if you were not around for the Zone/instance grind is still easy.

[Shurrikhan]

My issue with the tome solution, isn't that it doesn't work, or that I do not have choice. When you take the tome solution, yes I have the physical choice to do as I please to grind, my issue is the community at large. The community will always dictate what is easiest and only do that when you have the *choice* to gain tomes from anything.

This is true of any and all 'choice', though. If a job is badly underpowered, it becomes a "non-choice". If a job is actually/significantly overpowered, it makes those it competes with "non-choices". The same goes for content and their efficiencies. If a few significantly outstrip the rest, they become the only choices.

But that's not a reason, necessarily, to remove all choice and make everyone do A, B, and C in precise rotation, especially given that such starves queues for those who run ahead or behind without any other options to fall back on. Just as that's not a reason to have only one job per role.

That's just a reason to actually balance the damned choices. Which we should be doing anyways, regardless of whether it's just for Relics or for the broader game.

[strawberrycake]

This is true of any and all 'choice', though. If a job is badly underpowered, it becomes a "non-choice". If a job is actually/significantly overpowered, it makes those it competes with "non-choices". The same goes for content and their efficiencies. If a few significantly outstrip the rest, they become the only choices.

But that's not a reason, necessarily, to remove all choice and make everyone do A, B, and C in precise rotation, especially given that such starves queues for those who run ahead or behind without any other options to fall back on. Just as that's not a reason to have only one job per role.

That's just a reason to actually balance the damned choices. Which we should be doing anyways, regardless of whether it's just for Relics or for the broader game.

I agree with this, this is a more nuanced approach, I just don't trust SE to take this approach. I also feel this is too systematic, it's like I'm opting into a system of the game with no real soul to it. Of the many issues I have with the EW relic grind, Hildabrande is very much one of them, it just isn;t fun for me, and yes this is subjective. But with this system SE will have to make a VERY compelling story to prop up everyone doing savage, ex or whatever else as a means to get our relic, the content still wouldn't feel memorable, it'll feel like another day in XIV because then we'd look at the state of the balance, the state of the games content, and if it was any fun when done for more then it's initial reasons.

And yes one could, just improve it all, but if it were that easy I don't think we'd be here right now.

[strawberrycake]

This is true of any and all 'choice', though. If a job is badly underpowered, it becomes a "non-choice". If a job is actually/significantly overpowered, it makes those it competes with "non-choices". The same goes for content and their efficiencies. If a few significantly outstrip the rest, they become the only choices.

But that's not a reason, necessarily, to remove all choice and make everyone do A, B, and C in precise rotation, especially given that such starves queues for those who run ahead or behind without any other options to fall back on. Just as that's not a reason to have only one job per role.

That's just a reason to actually balance the damned choices. Which we should be doing anyways, regardless of whether it's just for Relics or for the broader game.

Also another reason making it all equal wouldn't work, we'll still go for the easiest solution, I DO NOT put that much faith into the NA XIV comunity.