JP interviews [pre-6.5]

[Lyth]

I think part of the problem with the relic system is that it's redundant even as a catch-up weapon. If you wanted to have a weapon purely from collecting weekly tome drops, then tome weapons already exist (and in some cases look better than the actual relic weapons currently do themselves). If you don't want to collect tome drops, there are plenty of other parallel gear systems to catch up with, including crafted weapons, Extreme Primal weapons, and even Deep Dungeon weapons on tiers that they get released.

Treating the relic weapon as a catch up weapon made sense previously, when these alternatives were not available. It doesn't really make sense now. I think it's perfectly fine to keep the relics as being less accessible and require an investment of effort to get.

[Zairava]

Yeah that's my conflict on the subject, too. I love the relics. They were my favorite content in ARR and especially HW. But part of the draw was that you had specific things to do to accomplish them.

Maybe they could consider offering relics for tomes after the first one is completed through a variety of specific steps. And not that we completionists need a carrot, but maybe you only get the achievement if you do it through the grind route. That way those who want the glam can get the glam with tomes and others can go the route with more involved steps and get rewarded for their effort.

I'd be okay with revisiting an ARR route, even Heavensward.

I'd also be okay if we had to do at least one through specific steps too, then it was made easier after.

Let's say for example that for the aether crystals for the anima, you did it once but afterwards you can get one of each for X amount of tomes, depending on if they use poetics or the prior tome currency.

Same thing with the memories in Bozja, instead of having to collect 20 of each every time, you could get them through the cluster exchange after completion. That way you could still interact with the environment and progress with other relics at the same time. (alternatively it could be relegated to poetics as well, for those not wanting to join cluster farms.)

[TaleraRistain]

This is probably the best choice to appeal to both sides. People who want a proper relic grind so the first relic feels like an achievement will be satisfied and the people who just want glamour would also have an easier time collecting relics after they finish one.

Alternatively, they could make a relic currency that has a variety of ways to obtain it. I did like how some steps in previous relics did allow you to passively gain items but even then it was a bit more focused. This comes from your 70s dungeons, or this from your 60s dungeons, or this when you run these specific alliance raids, etc.

I think one of the key things isn't so much how long things take but that the player makes a choice to engage with a specific piece of content so they're purposefully spending their time on that task. And that makes it feel more valuable since you are carving out time for that and having to make a choice to possibly not do something else.

[TaleraRistain]

I'd be okay with revisiting an ARR route, even Heavensward.

Heavensward is my favorite relic quest series. The crystal sand step is a particular favorite because of the different types of options that were available. I did also enjoy the book concept in ARR, if not the implementation. One of my main complaints with Eureka and Bozja was a lack of options. And while tomestones do satisfy this, the fact they're not a currency that's unique just to the relics makes the effort feel less important. I don't really feel like I earned a Manderville and that's what I like most about doing the relic quests.

[Iscah]

Which is exactly my point. They do not future-proof such things on the long run, and suddenly players need to perform mandatory extra jumps through hoops since it is in conflict with the Main Story.

So what would the solution be here? Force completion of all side stories from the beginning?

I have no objection to how they handled it. They made it mandatory and the only people who had to backtrack were those who previously skipped it. Players who did side content at the time had no extra demand placed on them; new players now do the quest while it is current content for their personal progress through the game.

[RitsukoSonoda]

Heavensward is my favorite relic quest series. The crystal sand step is a particular favorite because of the different types of options that were available. I did also enjoy the book concept in ARR, if not the implementation. One of my main complaints with Eureka and Bozja was a lack of options. And while tomestones do satisfy this, the fact they're not a currency that's unique just to the relics makes the effort feel less important. I don't really feel like I earned a Manderville and that's what I like most about doing the relic quests.

IMO the issues with previous relics wasn't the quests or tasks themselves but how wonky they were with item quantity requirements as you'd have it essentially bouncing around nonsensically between any mix of small quantity, large quantity, easy/high drop rate, difficult/low drop rate. This essentially caused specific steps to end up as bottlenecks or heavy stall points. Even back in ARR we had similar issues such as some of the books in the books step originally using fates that would hardly ever spawn or an enemy type that the map only had 1-3 spawns on total.

[Arrius]

So what would the solution be here? Force completion of all side stories from the beginning?

I have no objection to how they handled it. They made it mandatory and the only people who had to backtrack were those who previously skipped it. Players who did side content at the time had no extra demand placed on them; new players now do the quest while it is current content for their personal progress through the game.

Should've worked it around straight from the start and maybe the CT alliance raids wouldn't have been made mandatory.

[ForteNightshade]

"Oh noes, other people have the same shiny thing! However will I show off my superior dedication to pouring hours of my life into a videogame?"

I couldn't care less about what other players have or not. I'll get the thing if it looks good to me.

Who said anything about superiority? People like to show off their accomplishments just like they like showing off a cute outfit. It doesn't necessarily mean they're dunking on everyone else. When said thing has no accomplishment, or has that accomplishment reduced to pretty much nothing. Yeah, it might be a little upsetting.

I mean, think about it. This whole relic step exists because people on the other side were upset they couldn't get something another person had despite it being readily available... provided they put in the same effort. They just didn't want to. So why do they get to complain but the people who want to work for something should just suck it up and stop caring?

[Gullis]

To few ppl have ultimate weapons. Plz allow me to buy for 1500 tomes

[Zairava]

"Oh noes, other people have the same shiny thing! However will I show off my superior dedication to pouring hours of my life into a videogame?"

I couldn't care less about what other players have or not. I'll get the thing if it looks good to me.

Yeah, how dare people feel good about accomplishments they sunk hours into and show the fruits of their efforts.

Absolutely none of this is about superiority. It's not about bragging that "I sunk hours into pixels on a screen and you didn't". It's "Hey I took the time to get this cool thing and I want to show you what it looks like"

It's the same with EX mounts and rare items from treasure maps and new glamours. You aren't doing it to feel superior to others, you're doing it to feel good about getting it and sharing it with others.