Manderville Relic Criticism

[Silver-Strider]

Jeez, don't threaten me with a good time. Just the rage posts on Reddit would make that worth it, let alone having to you know, actually do something for once?.

Those unhinged Reddit posts are absolutely hilarious though.
I had someone call me a "Whiny, entitled, malcontent contrarian who has given up on reality" because I said EW was a terrible expansion.
Hilarious.

[Deo14]

Those unhinged Reddit posts are absolutely hilarious though.
I had someone call me a "Whiny, entitled, malcontent contrarian who has given up on reality" because I said EW was a terrible expansion.
Hilarious.

I just read a post on mainsub of someone asking if FFXIV has dead open world zones like WoW. It was really entertaining to read the responses.

One response started already completely derailed, saying good stuff about free trial, then it said that zones can be dead at certain times (aka not a prime time), and then derailing back to how amazing free trial is.

Then another one started with "There's usually plenty of people in every zone". lol, lmao even.

Another said that you will start to appreciate the loneliness. Like yeah, it's so cool that Massively Online Multiplayer game feels dead.

For real, these people are hilarious, they should start writing fantasy novels with their imagination. I've heard theory that those people see FFXIV as their livelihood and reason to live, so they go full bonkers whenever anyone dares to criticize it in any way. That's where the toxic positivity starts.

[VentVanitas]

One response started already completely derailed, saying good stuff about free trial, then it said that zones can be dead at certain times (aka not a prime time), and then derailing back to how amazing free trial is.

gotta hand it to SE, they have a whole community of yes-men to do their advertising for them

[Jojoya]

I still don't think it's the tomestone grind that is the problem with this relic series.

Sure, I might have had enough Causality this morning to buy my first upgrade immediately but I'll still need to grind it out for any other upgrades I want. I won't get them in the mail

I'm much happier being able to choose what content I do to get the tomestones instead of being forced into farming a specific piece of content that I might not enjoy and would get really tedious after running it for the 20th time in a row. No one is limited to roulettes. They can farm any of the level 90 dungeons, trials and raids, They can do Variant or Criterion. They can do hunts or EW treasure maps. There's a lot of different choices and we're free to mix and match so we don't get bored instead of sticking to one specific method for the sake of efficiency. Grinds do not have to forced and unenjoyable for the final reward to feel worthwhile.

The problem is not the tomestones. The problem is Manderville.

Where the relic quests of the past have had some rather serious themes that made the relics feel important, this time around we're stuck with a obscenely wealthy Syndicate member indulging a personal whim to reproduce some obscure historical family weaponry while once again we also help his spoiled and oblivious son in and out of mischief that has been a pure slapstick comedy routine throughout the game. The last minute attempt in the new quest chain to make the reproductions seem more serious doesn't really work (at least for me).

Don't get me wrong - I enjoy Hildibrand as comedy relief content but those quests need to be their own separate thing, isolated from other content. The relic series is not the place for him to be.

The development team needs to consider what relic weapons are supposed to represent in the eyes of the players and plan the associated quest lore with that in mind.

But one thing that will come out of this: for a change I will end up getting multiple relics weapons because I get to choose what content I do to earn them instead of being told I must do XYZ content that I may not like. No reward is worth investing dozens or hundreds of hours in content I don't enjoy. I'll move on to doing the content I do enjoy instead.

I will never be able to take the people on this forum seriously as long as so many of them are like 'hello I would like more boring content please'.

Why are you here if you find the content in the game boring? Surely there must be something you enjoy that will earn you the Causality tomestones.

[Saraide]

Why are you here if you find the content in the game boring? Surely there must be something you enjoy that will earn you the Causality tomestones.

What do you mean why am I here? I am directly benefitting from the relic grind becoming smoother and shorter. I very much prefer this expansion's relic over the previous ones.

[Koros]

So excuse me for showing some concern for a person and whether they're truly happy playing the game. You know how to put me on ignore if it rubs you the wrong way.

you rub everyone the wrong way lmao

[Saraide]

Someone doesn't have to like all of the game.

Someone who refers to game content as boring doesn't sound like they like any of the game. Why would I encourage that someone to keep playing the game it if bores them? It's not in their best interest even if it's in the game's best interest.

No one here is a mind reader. If they would instead say "I find this particular content boring", that establishes that there are other parts they don't find boring. There would be no reason to suggest that person may want to stop playing this game.

Misunderstands are going to happen when broad sweeping terms inclusive of many things get used instead talking about the specific problem area.

Ultimately, I want to see everyone do what is in their personal best interest. If they're unhappy overall playing a game, even if there's a small part of the game they do enjoy, they're probably better off not playing the game for a while. Take a break, do other things, then come back. Distance for a time can be helpful in seeing just how much you really enjoy a game - or how much you really don't. A lot of gamers end up miserable because they stuck around in a game for the sake of a single piece of content without seeing how miserable the rest of the game was making them feel. If nothing else, the break can help prevent burnout from setting in.

So excuse me for showing some concern for a person and whether they're truly happy playing the game. You know how to put me on ignore if it rubs you the wrong way.

What made you think I was calling all content boring instead of just calling relic content boring?

[Jojoya]

What made you think I was calling all content boring instead of just calling relic content boring?

Because this expansion content that tends to come up most in conversation is relic content - roulettes, dungeons, raids, trials, treasure maps, hunts, anything that might reward Causality (or Astronomy while it was the relevant currency).

Probably a bad assumption on my part at the time so my apologies.

[Atelier-Bagur]

I still don't think it's the tomestone grind that is the problem with this relic series.

Sure, I might have had enough Causality this morning to buy my first upgrade immediately but I'll still need to grind it out for any other upgrades I want. I won't get them in the mail

I'm much happier being able to choose what content I do to get the tomestones instead of being forced into farming a specific piece of content that I might not enjoy and would get really tedious after running it for the 20th time in a row. No one is limited to roulettes. They can farm any of the level 90 dungeons, trials and raids, They can do Variant or Criterion. They can do hunts or EW treasure maps. There's a lot of different choices and we're free to mix and match so we don't get bored instead of sticking to one specific method for the sake of efficiency. Grinds do not have to forced and unenjoyable for the final reward to feel worthwhile.

The problem is not the tomestones. The problem is Manderville.

Where the relic quests of the past have had some rather serious themes that made the relics feel important, this time around we're stuck with a obscenely wealthy Syndicate member indulging a personal whim to reproduce some obscure historical family weaponry while once again we also help his spoiled and oblivious son in and out of mischief that has been a pure slapstick comedy routine throughout the game. The last minute attempt in the new quest chain to make the reproductions seem more serious doesn't really work (at least for me).

Don't get me wrong - I enjoy Hildibrand as comedy relief content but those quests need to be their own separate thing, isolated from other content. The relic series is not the place for him to be.

The development team needs to consider what relic weapons are supposed to represent in the eyes of the players and plan the associated quest lore with that in mind.

But one thing that will come out of this: for a change I will end up getting multiple relics weapons because I get to choose what content I do to earn them instead of being told I must do XYZ content that I may not like. No reward is worth investing dozens or hundreds of hours in content I don't enjoy. I'll move on to doing the content I do enjoy instead.


Why are you here if you find the content in the game boring? Surely there must be something you enjoy that will earn you the Causality tomestones.

I would disagree on the questlines tone. I don't think anybody actually cares about the story in the relics, they've always just been a content grind that's the appeal

[Dohmi-Zeiva]

I would disagree on the questlines tone. I don't think anybody actually cares about the story in the relics, they've always just been a content grind that's the appeal

Actually I rather enjoyed the questing in Eureka and Bozja (Bozja especially).

Relics very much should expand on the lore of FFXIV.