YES fates are broken.

[Tsuwu]

But that's the thing, to enjoy a game you shouldn't have to go do things not in the game, the whole point is to be logged in having fun not doing laundry

I agree, really.
But even in game, most zones allow for lots of activities without ever leaving.
Crafting, chocobo leveling, other FATEs, spiritbinding, gathering, fishing, levequests, and now even hunting (once it calms down it will be more viable for individuals).
While some of these don't directly contribute to the Animus book at hand, they are productive in-game activities that still allow you to stay nearby and enjoy the game while making useful progress. And most of these are pretty fun.
If they're not your cup of tea, then FATE camping can be done in the passive way I did.
Both are pretty smashing solutions, I think.

[ElHeggunte]

I agree, really.
But even in game, most zones allow for lots of activities without ever leaving.

Depends on the FATE and the zone in question. Southern Than, for example, has a few different FATEs across the different books. It's also a well-populated area even outside of prime time. Going off to do anything else in the zone is a good way to miss your FATE because it'll likely get cleared almost the moment it appears unless you're in the immediate area (read: right where the FATE spawns).

If SE was so adamant about making us do FATEs for the animus books they should have had us do a set number of random ones or at the very least, not go out of their way to pick exceptionally rare spawns.

[Souljacker]

If SE was so adamant about making us do FATEs for the animus books they should have had us do a set number of random ones or at the very least, not go out of their way to pick exceptionally rare spawns.

How else would they force us to do content we don't enjoy, though? I liked Rifts in rift, and I liked that SE took that idea and ran with it in the form of FATEs, but I am absolutely HATING this relic quest. Absolutely hating it. I had thought at one point I might do it for my three main role jobs (whm, blm, and war) but now... No way I'm going to do it for blm and that's it (and even that I'm seriously thinking of just abandoning). I'll get weapons some other way for the healing and tanking roles. It's just more of SE's bullshit JP midnight low RNG 3 day long pop time pointless roadblocks because they don't understand the difference between "challenge" and "tedium".

[Tupsi]

It's just more of SE's bullshit JP midnight low RNG 3 day long pop time pointless roadblocks because they don't understand the difference between "challenge" and "tedium".

I don't know, certain Fracture and Naakuals in XI were challenging compared to tedious, so they definitely do and to be fair. most people already knew how to get around 'JP Midnight' since unlike FFXIV, it doesn't retain your status as the midnight passes, so if you did something at 7am pst and it says come back tomorrow rl day, you can pick it up at 8am pst and continue on your business or jump right back into dynamis. The problem is though, FATE is Yoshi's baby, he wants us utilizing it. They didn't even go out of the way to pick the 'rare' fates, they made them rare when they introduced these new content. I remember always seeing Giant Seps for example...always. Now that it's part of Animus? Yeah..good luck with that.

[Atrious]

After reading the live letter today about how people complain about the fates for animus.
Tonight Coerthas , taste of fear fate, 2am I turned up at the area, it's about to hit 5am and the fate hasn't spawned once, (real time not game time)
If your aim is to lose subscribers, you really are going the right way about it
clearly 3 hrs is not working as intended /rant off
Sitting in a zone for three hours for one fate to spawn is beyond a joke, Coerthas suffers due to the fact so many fates spawn here. Surely giving priority to ones that are in books is better

Its much less time to just quit animus and work on the other weapons.

[kidvideo]

but I am absolutely HATING this relic quest. Absolutely hating it.

So maybe don't do it? Nothing has forced you & there are no lockouts preventing you from experiencing other content without this. I mean, if you really hated it, you wouldn't do it. Like putting your hand on a hot burner.

[Ecks007]

Go complete the other fates that pop up in the area to make the fate you want pop sooner? Just a suggestion.

[Tupsi]

Go complete the other fates that pop up in the area to make the fate you want pop sooner? Just a suggestion.

Doesn't work for certain fates. I've seen Coerthas practically empty of FATEs for quite awhile and the same ones cycles in and out for hours, with no Seps spawning at all when prior to Animus, it would spawn normally like any other. They have to "slow down" gear acquisition somehow.

[ElHeggunte]

Go complete the other fates that pop up in the area to make the fate you want pop sooner? Just a suggestion.

1) As previously mentioned, going off to do the other FATEs might make you miss the one you were waiting for in the first place.

2) Even if you did clear out the other FATEs, what typically happens is they're replaced with one of the more common ones instead of the one you actually need. It's not unusual to see some FATEs repeat themselves 4, 5, or even 6 times in the amount of time it takes you to get the one you want.

SE already adjusted the respawn times for the FATEs required to access Crystal Tower, I see no reason why they shouldn't do the same for the FATEs attached to the animus books.

[StarHate]

No one told you you had to do Animus. You knew what the requirements were and what might happen (including rare FATES.) If that wasn't something you were on board with why sign up? There are plenty of other weapon alternatives for those that don't have the time or the will to fulfill the relic weapon requirements.

You seem to be missing the entire point. In the last couple patches they changed it so that the longer it has been since a fate spawned, the more likely it is to spawn. If you are clearing the area, no single fate should take longer than 3 hours to spawn. The OP is saying that isn't happening as she waited for more than 3 hours clearing fates and it didn't pop. Wanting or not wanting to do her animus has 0 correlation with the change they made to fates not working.

edit - I went and checked, it is the 2.3 patch notes: "The chance of a FATE occurring will increase the more time passes since its last occurrence, increasing the overall frequency of FATEs."