Why bother with ATMA now?

[ColdestHeaven]

What irks me is that this is simply like saying "why be/become skilled when you can just either grind something simple, or just wait?" I'm not saying those that chose to do relic stuff didn't work hard for what they've achieved/have yet to achieve, but at least Zenith felt like an accomplishment and not just a completion of a to-do list.

This is pretty much my thought on the latest relic steps. While I like the concept of an evolving weapon, both gameplay-wise and lore-wise, I don't like how the relic turned out from being the "rite of passage weapon" (killing Titan HM was not such a bad achievement back in early 2.0) to the "grind-a-lot weapon" which is now so shunned.

Relic currently is and most probably will be BiS in every patch with whatever build you want to do, the Novus step made it so. Which in a way is good, because RNGod is RNG in Coil. However - getting the latest upgrades is now not half as gratifying as it was getting the original relic. Atma and Novus required luck (the latter could also have just required money), Animus required patience. Hell, even Zenith back in the day required patience to gather the 900 myths instead of spending them in gear. I really hope they plan to reduce the grinding factor and introduce once again a challenging step. No matter how glowing the particles are, no matter the colour of the weapon, no matter the suffix.

[ThirdChild_ZKI]

We're all aware that Atma - huge gate as it is - is a worthless step. They may as well merge it with the Animus process, since it still takes time and effort to a degree. Novus, I have no clean words for. Nexus is somewhat of a step in the right direction, as it gets people challenging instances and other content again after the imbalance of the hunts.

Fact is, no matter how great the relic may become, Atma as worthless as it is, and Novus as expensive/random as it is, are going to be that big divider among players and gearing up. Sure, I'm aware they'll adjust it as time goes on, but I'll be brutally honest: my cynicism runs real high after seeing how Atma was so largely hated by the community, and yet was completely ignored.

So here's what I propose: Gerolt's Masterworks seems to be a thing now - Why not make the Soldiery weapons (or new ones introduced) upgradeable, comparable "rite of passage" weapons? The "grind" of it will be challenging and overcoming content. Sure, that might be too hard for some, but so is Coil already, and everyone accepts that as it is. Let the Relic be the long, easy road, the Raid weapons be the short, hard road, and the Primal/Gerolt weapons be the intermediary. Current raid weapons should always be stronger so to speak, with Relic/Gerolt both being upgradeable to comparable stats (and NOT just item level).

If this game is a "theme park" then BAM. Something for everyone.