Design your relic weapon grind

[ty_taurus]

What I was hoping for initially when EW released is something I'd like to see. The system would work similarly to Bozja, with new elements to shake up the experience. This would involve the story of exploring the treasure islands mentioned near the end of 6.0's story--the ones beyond the frozen sea of Blindfrost in Northern Othard. We'd be joining Erenville on a mission to discover new or lost species to record for Sharlayan, and effectively go on a major treasure hunt. This would involve mechanics similar to Island Sanctuary, where a part of the normal progression is discovering special creatures that appear under specific conditions, and engaginging in rare monster sightings that involve helping wildlife, fending off species invasions, and taking on rare monster sightings. Additionally, crafting and gathering tools would get wrapped into this as well, functioning as a zone that works like Diadem a little. Currencies can be earned through combat encounters or through crafting/gathering in this zone. Some examples of relic weapon steps in this format:

Step 1: Complete the first part of the treasure islands story progression and collect 6 items that can be purchased with a general currency earned through treasure islands content (combat or crafting/gathering) or with 500 astronomy. Each weapon purchased this way decreases the amount needed for subsequent weapons down to needing 2 items.
Step 2: Materials needed for this step can be earned through runs of the CLL equivalent, turning in rare crafting/gathering finds, exchanging variant potshards or criterion currency, island sanctuary currency, or by exchanging bicolor gems.
Step 3: A one-time step for all weapons that requires 60 of an item. 2 are earned from some alternative to DR for the treasure islands story, 1-3 are earned randomly by completing Nier raids, and they can also be purchased with 8000 Wolf Marks or 4000 Trophy Crystals per piece.
Step 4: There are 4 new items that you need 10 of each. Different types of treasure island fates have a chance to drop these based on the type of fate it is (boss fate, collecting fate, defending fate, route enemy fate) The equivalent of CE's in this zone always drop 2 of these randomly. Crystals earned in each zone from Eureka can be traded for them as well, with each zone corresponding to each of the 4 items. 50 crystals per item for each zone. You can also buy them individually for 500 poetics. The amount needed also decreases by 1 of each item for every weapon you do this step with, down to 5 of each.

Something along those lines. Create content that has a lot to engage with, while offering various ways to earn materials outside of that.