What was Square trying to accomplish with the previous tome patch?

[ChickensEvil]

I like how the patch effectively destroyed any market there was for relic mats and weapons. Mats going for about 100g now.

Not really sure how these two are related??? unless you mean materia farming which used to be best accomplished in WP... but I mean, more people are hitting 50 and more are going to be going for their relics. I don't really see how it destroyed anything... what "new" weapon was released that replaces your relic?

[Calyanare]

Not really sure how these two are related??? unless you mean materia farming which used to be best accomplished in WP... but I mean, more people are hitting 50 and more are going to be going for their relics. I don't really see how it destroyed anything... what "new" weapon was released that replaces your relic?

He/she meant the market for the materials for the relic precursor weapons, which drop in WP. They used to sell for a decent amount, and now on my server some of them are selling for less than the vendor price on the market boards.

[Mhaeric]

Not really sure how these two are related??? unless you mean materia farming which used to be best accomplished in WP... but I mean, more people are hitting 50 and more are going to be going for their relics. I don't really see how it destroyed anything... what "new" weapon was released that replaces your relic?

The base materials used to create relic weapons drop from chests in WP. Since no one used to run the dungeon very often, there was a market for those drops. Now that everyone and their dog runs the dungeon, the market for those items has collapsed.