I would support removing the Protean Crystal requirement to start the quests. I mean, seriously, locking EVERYTHING behind a rare drop is just stupid. Can't get magicite, can't trade anemos crystals in, can't do ANything until you get that rare drop.

It took me until LEVEL 5 to get mine, and I got most of that by grinding on mobs.

And people say "get Chain 30 and it's guaranteed!" like that's an easy thing to get to Chain 30 lol. Two friends and I could barely do chain 20.

And there's no real mechanics reason why everything needs to be locked behind the crystal either, TBH. Removing the requirement wouldn't change much, other than people not getting stuck on the stupid thing.