I don't know why people defend the Atma system...it was honestly a lazy implementation of a grind. Basically take existing low level FATES, add the Atmas to the drop list with a low drop rate, and then give people basically the Animus weapon without the glowly particle effects and added stats. Really...this isn't something SE spent copious amounts of development hours implementing. And we can honestly expect better.

Now...before the people who prefer grinds and are defending Atma to the death fly off their rockers, understand this: I actually agree the game needed a longer term object and I'm not looking for a handout here. In fact, I think if more of the pro-Atma camp took a breath and actually tried to understand some of the more calmly worded opposition to the current system, I think they'd find that this isn't a fight between maintaining long term/grindy objectives vs. 'gimme free epicz'. In fact, I'd argue that many of the people who are against the current form of Atma aren't against grinds. No, what they're against are poorly implemented grinds.

Here are the current issues I see with the current Atma system:

1. Completion time can vary widely between players, even between players of equivalent skill/knowledge/dedication/etc. We've seen cases of people who've gotten their Atmas in under 10 hours of grinding, while others have days worth and do not have a full set. This is creating two extremes. There are some who are basically handed their weapon (what the grindy camp tends to hate mind you) while others are forced to toil on for a significantly longer period of time. While there are definitely many who fall around the average, I still feel this is worth saying: A well implemented grind should generally take a similar amount of devoted time for players of equal standing, and that simply isn't happening in the current system.

2. There's limited avenues to affect the duration of the grind through skillful play. Really, the only thing you can do is maximize how quickly you get around the map to the FATES, and there's not much to that. Let's look at the better implemented Animus portion. It is possible to increase the rate at which you gain mythology for the books through intelligent, skillful play. Learning how to speed run, being able to pull more and pull faster, and maximizing DPS are all valuable skills to develop in an MMO. Players who can do this are rewarded with the fact that the time to collect all the necessary myth will be shortened.

3. The current design is rather unforgiving for players with restricted game time. The fact is, the drop chance of the Atmas does not change, no matter how many times you do it. You could spend 3 hours in a night working on getting a single Atma, not get it, and still be no closer to your ultimate goal for the next time you log on. This is one I can speak to from experience. When 8 hours in a week to play games is a rare luxury, the thought of wasting any portion of that to making zero progress is a bit daunting. And no, I don't want the system made easier on my behalf so it only takes a couple of hours. In truth, I still like having a long term goal, even when I know (and accept) it will take me a lot longer than many to get there. I just want the benefit of knowing that what time I do spend is always moving me a little closer to that goal, even if only a little.

Those are my main issues with the current Atma system, not including the fact that I find low level FATES to be rather boring (but this is subjective). How would I fix it? Well, believe it or not, I do think it's possible to modify the system to make it more consistent and more satisfying all the while maintaining a long term grind. If keeping the FATES was necessary, then the key would be to have the Atmas drop after completing a set number of FATES. Just theoretically, let's say 100 FATES in a given zone for the respective Atma. I think most people would agree that 1200 FATES would still be a grind. However, using a set requirement like this, we eliminate the wide variation of completion times. Hell, depending on the number of FATES required, SE could in theory make a longer grind compared to the average completion time for the current Atma system. Additionally, we'd end up in a situation where people would be able to feel more satisfaction out of working on the Atma weapon in smaller increments. Even if someone only did a few FATES in a night, those would still be a few FATES closer to completion.

I end my rant with this. To the people who like the current system and say they got a sense of satisfaction from it: Do you really think you'd feel less accomplished in a system that takes a similar amount of time/dedication to complete but also eliminates the risk of some people being royally screwed over by sheer luck? We can quite literally maintain all the aspects people like of the current system (the grind, the long term goals, FATES and GC seal acquisition, chocobo leveling, etc) and still make the system less dependent on RNG...and therefore a more balanced experience for everyone that wants to try it out...