Quote Originally Posted by Aurida View Post
If you have the normal anima version of the weapon, you can just glamour that onto your actual gear, yes? Replicas are for re-obtaining the visual looks of steps you've already completed.
Actual anima weapon can't be put into glamour dresser, so would need to be done manually any time the weapon is changed. OP is nearly at cap, tho, so wouldn't be the worst thing.

Not certain myself, as I never pay attention to the replicas and always intend to finish at least one weapon, but, would assume yes, you can only purchase replicas of steps below current. Consider, Hyperconductive was released in patch 3.25, while the replica was released in patch 3.3, along with the i240 weapons. Similarly, the Replica Majestas was released in the same patch as the Hyperconductive, after the anima step had been out for a time already. Conclusion: replicas are released when players are expected to upgrade beyond the weapon model, for the purpose of allowing players to retain the look of the model even after upgrading.