Castrum is dead. Please do something, Squenix

[Packetdancer]

Castrum is already the best coin income assuming it's up.
You aren't going to earn 25ish coins in skirmishes and CEs in the time it takes to do castrum.
It's also the only way to get certain fragments

I actually enjoy Castrum mechanically just as a duty on its own; yes, I grant I may be weird. However:

1. You may not earn 25-ish coins in skirmishes and CEs in the time it takes to do Castrum, but unless you really need/want the augmented Bozjan gear, you don't need that many coins either.
2. If you grind for coins outside Bozja, the coin gain might be slightly slower but you can also be accumulating Memories for a relic, Bozjan clusters, lockboxes, and mettle. The ability to get all those other things simultaneously may outweigh the slight loss of speed in farming coins for folks.
3. You don't really need the fragments exclusive to Castrum, either. They're nice, but not necessary for any content.

So there's not a burning need for most people to do Castrum for rewards. And since you get no mettle from it but can lose a fair amount, there's that actual disincentive to run it.

Even good players can screw up; no one has perfect runs 100% of the time. And every screw-up in Castrum will cost them. Maybe not rank, no, but even rank 15 folks could lose mettle and have to build it back up in advance of whatever comes next. Add to that the fact that not doing Castrum currently rewards you by meaning you spend that time farming 3 other things (relic items, clusters, and lockboxes) Castrum will not, plus mettle for those not capped...

A lot of players in this game want to focus on "efficiency"; that's a valid way to play, but right now those players are going to avoid Castrum because while you might get coins at a slightly higher rate, you're doing so at increased risk of net mettle loss, and by sacrificing the ability to grind/farm three other things simultaneously. Moreover, for folks wanting to do the 1v1's, going into Castrum means losing a chance at a duel if the eligible CEs pop while you're in, so there's an additional opportunity cost there which may not be outweighed by coins.

So for a lot of people I know, they decide Castrum is an efficiency loss overall; other than the fragments, there's nothing you can get in Castrum you can't get outside it, and quite a few things you can get outside it that you can't get if you do run it.