Simple game design philosophy being ignored:

Will players participate or play with a feature or content if there was no reward?

If yes. Add feature or content.
If no. Redesign.

Think that is impossible? Look at Super Mario Bros. You had the option to skip Worlds 1-3 through 3-4. And 4-3 through 7-4. So why did some of us play them anyway? There was no different ending. Nothing special to help at the end of 8-4. We did it because it was fun.

Doesn't apply to RPGs? Breath of the Wild apparently can be beaten in 35 minutes. But the game on its own is fun enough to just explore and take it all in.

Why is our relic quest grindy? Arbitrary 'reason's. Its the idea that to have something good, one must work for it. Let's change that philosophy from 'work' to 'play'. Actually why couldn't the relic quest be something akin to the MSQ? Something like a WSQ (weapon story quest). Time is the part that they want behind the weapon, and something like the MSQ would take the requisite time. Players would get a ton of lore and would not feel drained playing through the same content over and over.