The Anima grind is not the problem.

[Zumi]

Secondary stats are not very strong in HW and much weaker then they were in ARR. If you do not have a 210 weapon the relic will be better then everything lower due to weapon damage and main stat being king. Having different secondary stats if a very very minor increase or loss.

The 210 weapon is still an upgrade over 200 or 205. If doing the relic doesn't float your boat then wait till 3.17 or whatever the next mini patch is where when they will add the eso weapon upgrade item to void ark / hunts.

[Whiston]

Secondary stats are not very strong in HW and much weaker then they were in ARR. If you do not have a 210 weapon the relic will be better then everything lower due to weapon damage and main stat being king. Having different secondary stats if a very very minor increase or loss.

This is just parroting phrases you've heard elsewhere.
The secondary stats are worth slightly less now than they did at level 50, however they still have significant weight, especially when there are in excess of a hundred of them.
The Thordan weapon is mathematically better than the i210 relic, and due to the huge difference in skill speed makes even more desireable outside of its damage weight.

[Kaurie]

This is just parroting phrases you've heard elsewhere.
The secondary stats are worth slightly less now than they did at level 50, however they still have significant weight, especially when there are in excess of a hundred of them.
The Thordan weapon is mathematically better than the i210 relic, and due to the huge difference in skill speed makes even more desireable outside of its damage weight.

Mathematically, the relic is superior to Thordan EX, just not as much as an improvement for Ninja's as some other jobs.

Ninja
WD: 10.775
DEX: 1.000
DET: 0.141
CRT: 0.166
SS: 0.074

Thordan EX = 937.401
WD: 10.775 x 75 = 808.12
DEX: 1.000 x 105 = 105
DET: 0.141 x 93 = 13.113
CRT: 0.166 x 68 = 11.288
SS: 0.074 x 0 = 0

Relic = 946.121
WD: 10.775 x 76 = 818.19
DEX: 1.000 x 109 = 109
DET: 0.141 x 97 = 13.677
CRT: 0.166 x 0 = 0
SS: 0.074 x 71 = 5.254

Not completely true. The 205 gun/bow are the same physical damage as 210 gun/bow. Luckily for bards, the relic bow is really good with crit/det since the other two 210 weapons weren't crit/det. The gun, however... Heavensfire is 93 crit/68 det, but the Armageddon is 97 det/71 skill speed. So unless skill speed is actually better for machinist than other jobs despite rapid fire on 3 shots every 90 seconds and all of the ogcd skills that aren't affected by skill speed at all, it's unlikely that the +4 dex on Armageddon will make up for the better secondary stats on Heavensfire. At best they'd be roughly the same and probably not worth the grind and gil unless you really like the glamour.

We'll be able to upgrade the weapon further later, but I'd rather just do a different weapon now and work on this part of the gun when the difficulty is eased with a future patch.

Generally speaking, stat weights range from 0.07 to 1.17 and are often much closer. Let's assume this is the case for Machinist and say 0.07 = sks, 0.17 crit and 0.14 = det (throwing out numbers for sake of argument, as I do not have MCH stat weights). These stat weights are referencing the main stat as 1.0.

Heavensfire = 93*0.17 CRIT and 68*0.14 DET = 15.81 + 9.52 ~25
Armageddon = 97*0.14 DET and 71*0.07 SKS = 13.58 + 5.9 ~20

So Heavensfire is roughly equivalent of 5 dex better and Armageddon has +4 dex. So in the absolute most extreme scenario, Heavensfire provides 1 dex equivalent more.

For reference, you can see the NIN stat weights above. SMN Stat weights are more simialr to 0.145 high for CRIT and 0.115 low for SPS

EDIT: A good rule of thumb is that (roughly) weapon damage = 10x main = 10x secondary, or weapon damage = 100x secondary stats.

[Alahra]

Ninja
WD: 10.775
DEX: 1.000
DET: 0.141
CRT: 0.166
SS: 0.074

Thordan EX = 937.401
WD: 10.775 x 75 = 808.12
DEX: 1.000 x 105 = 105
DET: 0.141 x 93 = 13.113
CRT: 0.166 x 68 = 11.288
SS: 0.074 x 0 = 0

Relic = 946.121
WD: 10.775 x 76 = 818.19
DEX: 1.000 x 109 = 109
DET: 0.141 x 97 = 13.677
CRT: 0.166 x 0 = 0
SS: 0.074 x 71 = 5.254

Thanks, I didn't actually crunch the math myself when I said that, I was repeating someone else from the DPS forums I think. Looks like the 1 WD and the extra DEX is enough to make up for the lackluster secondaries.

So yes, it's still the best option for any NIN that doesn't raid, even if they're capable of clearing Thordan in terms of the raw numbers.