7.31 instantly feeling like a breaking point :(

[Absurdity]

I think it's a very personal thing also, in the case of myself I enjoyed Eureka *a lot* but that was during a time where I *had* the time to spend 24hrs in Eureka. I used to get upset that I can't do relics or things the same way I would back then, because it's a mindset of "Falling Behind" but since then I've made peace with it, it's cool, it doesn't matter anyway if I don't have fun. In the end, I ended up doing fates for an hour, got 600 gemstones and sold an item for 2.4mil. Sure I won't have the relic the same time as everyone else, but who cares really. And of course you can be unhappy and totally not vibing with what they're doing and that's okay. I too don't enjoy the 1500 tomestones thing. So I just do the grind slower, whenever, by chance, per chance when it happens it happens.

This, because it ultimately doesn't matter.
The relic only becomes relevant in terms of power during the last patch of an expansion and by that point the previous steps will most likely have already received nerfs, at least that was the case for all relics besides Endwalker (how would you even nerf mindless tomestone grinding?).

The time it takes doesn't bother me, it's so long until 7.4 that even if you want the step done before the (potential) next update you can leasurely do a few roulettes a week and probably still finish in time.
The fact that it is somehow more restrictive than the light grind in Heavensward is what I find more questionable.