I dunno, it seems to me that all this drop rate crap harkens back to the days of SNES Final Fantasys, where the way to add game play time was to make players grind exp.

Look, I'm all for doing Ifrit. Many times. But over 100 times and still only 1 weapon and 8 totems to show for it sucks. I like playing this game, but why do I have to do the same memorized fight so much? It's tedious!

Phantasy Star Online managed to thrive with only 4 levels (which were randomized) and be new and exciting each run. Can't we learn anything from that? Randomize dungeons so people can't memorize speed run them, or change Ifrit's dash pattern. Maybe if you mix up the battles you can make it exciting each time, and then justify decreasing the weapon exchange rates.

(OH. And if you DO mix up the battles, fix the latency issue. Nothing sucks worse than being killed by an attack you evaded on your screen only to find out you weren't in a designated "safe spot")