COVID showed why the Developers need to release Relic content sooner.

[Guntank81]

Its content but not new content, its doing the same we've been doing for a year over and over which means that there are a lot of people who have already done it, besides the gear time restriction in savages and tomes makes gearing alt jobs to a decent ilv a hard task so in the end you do endgame content with only 1-3 jobs making the deffinition of "mindless grind" a reality most of the time (just see how many players lv up a job to 80 just to never touch it again). Leveling is something that can't keep a game alive by itself especially when below lv70 a lot of jobs feel crippled making the experience less enjoyable and when it comes to new content even before COVID pandemic this expansion has been very lacking compared to SB

I understand what you're saying though; while there is truth to what you're saying, the game could benefit from more Ultimate fights/Raids for endgame raiders, hell they could/should add a new deep dungeon to keep people entertained

[Penthea]

hell they could/should add a new deep dungeon to keep people entertained

I was so disappointed when SE announced there wouldn't be another for ShB. I'm hoping that they will release something else instead of just not releasing anything of the kind.

Or maybe the upcoming Relic content will fill that hole? Who knows? Just have to wait and see.

[Vahlnir]

I was so disappointed when SE announced there wouldn't be another for ShB. I'm hoping that they will release something else instead of just not releasing anything of the kind.

Or maybe the upcoming Relic content will fill that hole? Who knows? Just have to wait and see.

They did say that the Bozja content would fill the void for leveling purposes at least, which is what a lot of people use Deep Dungeon for anyway.

[Amnmaat]

They did say that the Bozja content would fill the void for leveling purposes at least, which is what a lot of people use Deep Dungeon for anyway.

Heaven on High and Palace of the dead existed with the relics at the same time.
The point is that we haven't seen what Hoh/Potd was replaced with in terms of time, cost, and development.

Bozja is a follow up to Eureka, not a follow up to Heaven on High.

[Mikey_R]

While I would have loved to work on Shadow Bringer relics (had all before the COVID delay), I used the time to level all combat jobs (except BLU) to 50 on my alt. Now, it might surprise some people, but I actually enjoyed doing it. Running these dungeons again after not doing them for so long was quite refreshing, even if it was low level stuff. This also got me to properly to take the time to try the new Ninja. Since Ninja was level 80 on my main before the rework and I never really liked playing ninja, I never properly tried to play it until now. Even the levelling up to 50 made me try it at 80 and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.

I shouls have been working on Eurekean weapons though, oh well.

[Absurdity]

They did say that the Bozja content would fill the void for leveling purposes at least, which is what a lot of people use Deep Dungeon for anyway.

I won't deny that a lot of people use it for that purpose but for me Deep Dungeon was never about leveling, I found the process to be mindnumbingly boring and everything dies so fast that you never learn anything about the job you're leveling. Deep Dungeons for me were about the challenge, the 4 man challenge to be exact, something this game is severely lacking in and Bozja does not fill that void.

[kaynide]

Heaven on High and Palace of the dead existed with the relics at the same time.
The point is that we haven't seen what Hoh/Potd was replaced with in terms of time, cost, and development.

Bozja is a follow up to Eureka, not a follow up to Heaven on High.

While the look and feel is definately leaning towards a Eureka feel, I do believe the devs stated Bozja was going to be the PotD as far as alternative leveling choices. Obviously it's not the same format by any means.

For your comment on dev time- of course I don't know, but from what the live letters seem to say, they've invested heavily on the story of this Bozja content. They said something like the equivalent of a feature movie's worth of cutscenes or some such. I'd guess that's where the time went.

'course it's all speculation! Personally thought/hoped there would be a Secret of Mana "Mana Fortress Remnants" PotD dungeon in the ruins in Rak'tika.

[Listrella]

they'll release it when it's ready, i'd rather wait a bit longer for content than get something that's rushed, bozja looks like it could be pretty good and i'd hate to see that ruined by it being rused to release.

[Bacent]

Wow OP you'd be wonderful at leading a company keeping people on a timer like that.

A lot of people make things sound easier than they most likely are. I don't mind a lull in content, you know....during a PANDEMIC... I'd rather them take their time and stay safe right now than to cater to people being booty bothered about not getting what they want. We'll get it when we get it. How dare a world wide pandemic slow down anything *shakes fist*

There's a high chance it wasn't ready when the proverbial shite hit the spinning device. Covid slowed everything down in the world. Games included.

[SaberMaxwell]

The point of the OP is "Square should make sure the long-lasting grind content is out earlier in the expansion, both in anticipation of unforeseen events causing disruptions in the patch cycle and because people who want to casually grind these would like more than half an expansion to work on them in." Bringing up Covid was just illustrating that an unforeseen event happened, disrupting the patch cycle; I don't assume malice on the OP by putting the words "you wanted them to work through a pandemic and put their lives on the line for your entertainment," and frankly I think it's disingenuous of everyone who is putting that on OP.

The strengths and weaknesses of the 3-month patch cycle are well known. One thing that mitigates one of those weaknesses is getting grind content out sooner. Waiting until halfway through the expansion was a problem in Stormblood as much as it is in Shadowbringers in my opinion, the pandemic just exacerbates the issue.