Are Relics worth the headache they cause?

[Lilyarel]

I was waiting on the fate "Enimity of my Enemy", its spawns, and I fail it. Hours of waiting. Wasted. So now I have to wait another 4 hours (if I'm lucky) for the thing to spawn. And I started to ask myself. Is this even worth it? At the end of the day when I get all the Relic upgrades am I going to say to myself "Wow! I'm so glad I invested the time into this relic!"

[Sirtimid]

Short answer? No. You don't need a relic to complete any of the endgame stuff.

Long answer? It helps your performance, but it is not required. Skill is much more important (assuming a comparable and adequate item level).

[Spoekes]

If you have spare time after your roulettes or whatever is your daily mandatory stuff, you can do it. Thats the way I handle it.

You might feel the same kind of thing that many ppl do who started the relic stuff later... you don't see light at the end of the tunnel and SE keeps adding more crazy timesink stuff, making you feel like you will never catch up with the actual quest...

[Hiruke]

Not really. So far, relic has never been the best weapon available, and that's not likely to change any time soon. Also, you can almost always get an equivalent weapon to the current step very easily. One has to question why you would grind so much for a level 100 weapon when Ramuh drops them like candy (or Shiva with 100/115). I'm sure at some point you'll be able to get 120/130 weapons without even doing Coil, thanks to the drops being added elsewhere. Or, you could do Coil, and get 120/130/135 weapons, instead of grind forever for a 125. 3-6 months work, or a few days? Hmm.

[Bolf]

^^^^^^^ this! I've been asked a few times by guys in my fc why I haven't bothered putting any time into Atma grind. My response is always that it doesn't seem worth it. I'd rather invest in getting a few more classes to 50. For the ones that are at 50 I just have the 110 upgraded Soldiery weapon until I find myself needing something better.

[Grotesque]

Relic is always at least the second-best choice, sometimes the best (Nexus was for about an month). If you can't clear T13 anytime soon, Relic is the best choice for some classes right now, because of the crappy stats of Irontek weapons (Bard, Smn, Whm, ...). It is always worth to do the latest upgrade as soon as possible not having to catch up, because it is the fastest way with all the peeps doing Relic. Also, if you're a healer like me, you won't see the encrypted tomestone of T11 before all DDs / Tanks got it (at least those without relic). So, no I don't want to wait 6+ weeks after T11 first kill to get a better weapon when there is already a better out there. However, right now I still have to farm the last 1300 Soldiery to finish Zodiac
The weapon is worth, but you have to endure the grind. My relic now consumed 220 hours of playtime. Always did each step when it came out.

[Almalexia]

I was waiting on the fate "Enimity of my Enemy", its spawns, and I fail it. Hours of waiting. Wasted.

Every map is broken up into different level groups, and every level group has a maximum number of FATEs it can simultaneously support. Once this limit is reached, no more FATEs will spawn until one of the current FATEs are cleared/timed out.

Furthermore, FATEs get a bonus to spawn on the next roll every time they do not spawn.

I know this suggestion is not nearly as fun alt-tab, but you can accelerate the appearance of desirable FATEs by clearing undesirables in the same group. More empty FATE slots means more rolls, and every time your FATE doesn't appear you are still stacking the odds in your favor.

FATEs that would take 3-6 hours to spawn by afking can be popped in 15-45 minutes by diligently clearing others.

[Kerwin]

Relic is something that you do on your free time if you are looking to fill the void. It's not meant to be a fast process but something you work towards overtime. Basically it's just something to do if you can't find anything else to do.

[Valkyrie_Faleva]

I was waiting on the fate "Enimity of my Enemy", its spawns, and I fail it. Hours of waiting. Wasted. So now I have to wait another 4 hours (if I'm lucky) for the thing to spawn. And I started to ask myself. Is this even worth it? At the end of the day when I get all the Relic upgrades am I going to say to myself "Wow! I'm so glad I invested the time into this relic!"

Is it worth the headache? When you start quest, HELL NO. But when you finish it, it was definately worth it
Do you need it? No
Would I do a relic if I was serious and love the job? Yes

I want to contribute to a group when I do important events. I play with a group that I've known since FFXI, and epeen is always in effect. Though we do go full retard 90% of the time trying to outdamamge each other.

[Sessurea]

because of the crappy stats of Irontek weapons (Bard, Smn, Whm, ...)

Sure bard ironworks ( sksp/det ) is not optimal, but relic is 3 months playing a few hrs/day ( atma- yoichi ) vs ironworks bow being the matter of learning fcob. And it's a great step up from hA which was acc/det and ofc 15 less ilvl. I really can't promote these relic weapons, they are terrible and not fun imo. If se didn't make weapons get outdated so fast it would be ok, but the reality is bad.