My Eureka Concept

[Wintersandman]

I don't recall the relic's at release (both ARR/HW) being that varied, but it is possible that they changed it later or that I am wrong. I am not an expert on relic acquisition in its current patch. I remember very specific FATE farming, Book farming, dungeon/raid spamming, and tons of materia.

ARR Relic
Trials
Books (Pretty much solo)
Maps (Solo or Group)
Light (Solo or Group)
Dungeon items (Group)
I know I am skipping some steps

HW Relic
Fate Farming (Solo or Group)
Dungeons (Group)
Unidentified Items + Crafted Pieces (Solo or Group) Could do Beast Tribes, Spam Alex 1-4 or Turn in Tomestones
Tomestone Items (Had to dungeons or beast tribes to get tomestones but these could be solo, 4 man, 8 man or 24 man)
Umbrite Phase (Group and Solo Content as there were multiple sources of obtaining Sand, Etc)
Singing Shards (Tomestones or Roulettes)
Light Phase (Solo or Group)
Last Phase (8 man Trials and then GC Seals or Tomestones)

The difference between this and Eureka is it is much easier to find a group for almost any step except later on getting Alex 1-4 as people are doing roulettes and you were most likely to get a party.

Your version of Eureka is like a Diadem, It only stays relevant with the current iLvl and then loses favor. Which is why you can barely get a Diadem run today and barely could get one after 3.3 released. Getting 8 people to go into Diadem even for gathering is a chore. The purpose behind the relic is to make it accessible for everyone at the cost of it being a grind. You can make it 1 Star, 2 Star but what is the incentive for the people who are on 2 star to go back and do the 1 star? You can look at any of the raids through HW and finding a A1-4 party in 3.5 was nigh impossible. 60-minute+ wait time more often than not and is a clear example of how even a Star system would devolve into. The FFXIV playerbase wants things quickly and even though you could have it be a catch up with gear they will still be a burden on the party who wants to clear it as fast as possible (Grind remember).

Grinding A1S is a perfect example which a lot of people did for Light. Most parties were 6 DPS, 1 Healer, 1 Tank. Could it be cleared with the standard 2,2,4? Yes it could but people were wanting to get most efficiently so they moved away from the standard party make up. Which left healers and tanks having to sit in PF making their own group or they would find other sources. By making it one source for a grind it takes away options for players to get it and locking it behind a full party makes it even more challenging.

If anything Eureka will be more like a PotD where it is independent of party make up and they will add new floors for the next level just as when they had the standard i235 weapon that could be upgraded to the Kinna i255. Which will allow a solo or group option. People love and hate potd as it is still relevant content. But Diadem was a flash in the pan.