So the zodiac upgrades... (kind of ranty post)

[Atomnium]

"relic is for casual players it shouldn't be there to give them a really good piece of equipment"

Wrong, relics were designed for midcore players aiming to continue they path through the last coil tier, but to me it was a design error to actually segregate them in the second place behind allagan weapons.
I would have preferred to see them mandatory to actually beat the best coil tier Boss Think about it, they are our only piece of equipment with an horizontal progression.

You're completely clueless if you think the insane amount of time, patience and Gil needed to get a Nexus is "casual."

This is true, we have reached a point where the relics are meant for a midcore playerbase that could even lead to a legendary weapon quest-line in the future.
I really hope that relics become the "ultimate holy grail" with all of the tasks you have to achieve, at a point the owner will have to defeat the strongest tasks in the game to own one (Like Killing Bahamut, 3.0 raid bosses and whatnot).

Oh and btw :

SE is trying to make some snobby hardcore peeps happy

Wrong, SE is just respecting the Final Fantasy legacy by introducing different and complex side-quests, while respecting their good and bad 2.0 ideas.

snobby hardcore peeps happy

Good Sir or Lady, I have no idea what you are talking about, uhuhuh.