People might be forgetting that essentially you were able to start working on relic weapons from patch 1.19 and onwards. That's like a year time right there, or at least almost is, although I know a lot of stuff you couldn't quite do until more recent patches. But yeah, it isn't like you couldn't make progress toward the quest until 1.22b or w/e. If you're starting the quest now, it'll take months to finish.