I agree 100% that the Atma drop rates should be higher: I unlocked the Atma drops in July, and as of this post, only have 5 Atma stones (i.e. one every 1.5 weeks on average). In the same time, merely by doing hunts, Syrcus Tower & Expert/Hard Duty Roulette, I was able to get the fully-upgraded Laevateinn in under 3 weeks, and am well on my way to getting my second Sands of Time.

Personally the sheer radomness of the Atma grinding is just plain frustrating, boring & no fun at all (and that's not even getting into the Animus Books or the Novus Alexandrite map grinding). As a result, I think I'll only likely bother with the whole grind for my Black Mage weapon, and just go the Soldiery weapon route for all the other classes I run (mainly because I can get the fully upgraded soldiery weapons every 3 weeks).

Oh, and B. Strife: I third the motion of you buying a lottery ticket with your luck. Just don't use "4 8 15 16 23 42" as your numbers, otherwise bad stuff might happen.