Why the new Relic steps killed my hype for Bozja; the 1000th thread

[Drium]

I have to admit, until now, the Relic grind didn't seem too bad.

Sure, 60 memories per weapon was a bit much for the first stage, but you could farm those in Bozja while doing other stuff. Namely, farming clusters or even skirmishes, and you could pick up the ones you were missing from HW FATEs. No problem.

The 6 green memories after that? They drop so often in Bozja, it was barely a step.

But now here we are...

15 memories from CT clears. Alright, that's a bit monotonous, but I can stomach 3 hours of Syrcus Tower per weapon, sure, why not. Don't get me started on how the Critical Engagements don't drop the damn things.

15 memories from Void Ark clears or Stormblood FATEs, and 15 more memories from Ivalice clears or Stormblood FATEs. And the FATEs only seem to drop them around 10-15% of the time. ARE YOU INSANE?! Those raids take half a hour to a hour and sometimes more if your group is really bad. The FATEs are pure RNG and will drive you insane.

That step. THAT STEP. Completely destroyed my willingness to grind these weapons out.

I had, so far, obtained every single Resistance Relic and upgraded all of them. The Crystal Tower step had me hesitant to bother doing all of them. The Void Ark/Ivalice step has me completely and utterly turned off the prospect.

Why? Why did you do it this way?

If you wanted us to run Void Ark and Ivalice more, you could have added rewards, made them a bit less punishing, or if you absolutely had to make them part of the Relic grind, PICK A SANE NUMBER OF CLEARS.

I would be down to do each of those raids 1 or 2 times per weapon. 6 or 12 clears per weapon. It's rough, but it's something you can knock out. But f*cking 30?!

Just... why.

And why not make that stuff drop in Bozja? Why can't I go back to Bozja and farm all of it there? The CEs barely drop the memories though, so Crystal Tower is better.

Just... what is going on? Is this the endgame quality we have to look forward to in the next expansion? Empty grinding for 200+ hours of old content?

Is the next expansion's Relic going to require that I clear 30 Nier raids?

This direction isn't great. Sorry.

The biggest shame?

The new raid is tons of fun. TONS OF ACTUAL FUN. I would run it all day every day. But no. I need to go run Ivalice and Void Ark 30 times first. Cool.

[LisSquid]

I won't lie it wasn't the relic that killed Bozja for me. I'm actually kind of sad that I won't see these raids because I hate fate grinding.

To be fair, I'm in the camp that doing unique content made for a unique experience is important. Recycling old raids? Really? Extending time played with repetitive fates? The duels are fun but do they offer correct incentives? Does everyone get equal chance to throw down for those rewards?

My original observation of Bozja was.. no. Its the same ol' same ol' with a few bells and whistles that look fun on paper, but poor in practice. Devs seem to agree as they are forcing people into old, unrelated content to finish their relic.

I had grumbles about Eureka, but had forgiveness because it was SE taking a chance. I appreciate that. Bozja? Not so much.

[Kanitezz]

I've grinded multiple different ARR and HW relics so my question to you is... Haven't relics ALWAYS been monotonous? They've never been particularly fun to get. But for me personally the ones I've grinded felt worth it for what I wanted them for. So I'm kind of lost as to why people are acting like the relics for ShB were not supposed to be grindy and monotonous. Because all the other relics have been. If I'm missing a viewpoint please help me understand.

I also specifically remember that majority of people were complaining that the past steps were too easy and quick. Especially the first step of the relic. I really hope the people complaining about the grind now aren't the same people that were complaining about it being too quick before.

[Fawkes]

I'm not sure I understand their design philosophy. They added a new raid, and I want to spam the new raid, but I have to spam a bunch of old content first to be able to get relic items? These steps should have been added last time so people could get right into doing the new thing when the patch hit. I understand they want to cram all the repeat content they can in to the relic quest, but it kinda deflates my excitement a bit to be forced to go back to CT or CEs instead of the hot new thing.

[Derio]

The HW relic was the best IMO. This relic grind however is all over the place and acts like it doesnt know what it wants to be. Its actually infuriating. I would prefer the Eureka trains than this crap that they are serving us now.

[LaylaTsarra]

I'm hoping the custom stat phase is optional. If it isn't I won't be doing more than one or two of these and that is a very big disappointment for me.

[Thoosa]

I’m kinda interested to try the new raid, but don’t have any interest in doing the relic grind for a weapon which imo doesn’t look great either and ultimately is just glam. I may as well buy a glowy weapon off the market board and spend the rest of the time doing savage, extreme, glamour and idling in Limsa lol.

I can’t help but think this new grind is just a complete waste of time and just in place because of a lack of creativity.

[Deceptus]

I've grinded multiple different ARR and HW relics so my question to you is... Haven't relics ALWAYS been monotonous?

Bad design is bad design and it should be called out and respectfully criticized.

Most people want a nice middle ground between "Pay 1000 poetics for your first step" and "Korean Grind or RNG hellfest" for the current one.

[Tsumdere]

I like DR. I like CLL. I don't particularly mind running Bozja CEs (even if I don't love it) because I could use the coins and lockboxes as well.

I HATE that I have to run old alliance raids or do fates outside of Bozja. So much to the point I don't think I'm going to touch these weapons until they are hotfixed and I own every single relic from ARR/HW/SB and the SHB recollection ones.

[Reap00]

Bad design is bad design and it should be called out and respectfully criticized.

Most people want a nice middle ground between "Pay 1000 poetics for your first step" and "Korean Grind or RNG hellfest" for the current one.

There is nothing wrong with the design. The step is designed to fill the alliance raids with players to keep those queues pumping. You get a BiS weapon for your job at the end of the expansion. Seems fair. Also, this is entirely optional. If you don't like it you don't have to do it.