Demiatma drop rates are unacceptable

[Jeeqbit]

I'd appreciate you not to bulldoze over others' information

That wasn't my intention. I was just adding my own experience to the discussion.

My "12 hours" here isn't for completion. It was an estimated minimum presented as one of multiple units of measurement pertaining to one of six steps in this particular grind.

Right, but that doesn't affect my point because if it took that long for all areas it would be 12 x 6 = 72 hours. If we assume people actually sleep and don't work or eat, which isn't realistic for most people, that's 96 hours spent. It's still gonna be less than a week for a person that plays all day, and so it would be a gradual process for someone that's busy. Probably a month.

I remember in Heavensward, I worked on my Anima relic for several months (pre-nerf) because the sands step was steep.

Failing to own enough demiatma does prevent you from completing a quest and progressing endgame content.

I don't see it the same way myself, because it's a sidequest and the weapon is never the best weapon until the end of the expansion. They are good for alts, probably slightly better than the Extreme weapons, but not in such a way that I can't do content. I can still jump into Savage, complete the OC story or do Forked Tower without it.

Jeeqbit wanted something that lasts more than a day and so would have been actually happy trudging through 200 fates just for one candy of colour

I remember doing that sort of thing for Yo-kai. Plus Shared FATE ranks themselves are around 60 FATEs in each area. I farmed Ultima Thule regularly for Gemstone Vouchers. Overall, I always find it a chill and social experience. No stress, and if you party up you can talk about anything with people who join. Just something to work on each day if got time.

got done with the whole relic in a way shorter time because good rng.

I'm not sure about that. It took me weeks from what I recall. I had lots of Demiatma, but not necessarily of the right type, so I was missing a few key ones. I could have put more focus on one area and instance hopping if I was in a rush, but I wasn't. I wasn't going to hand in anyway because I was collecting data, but even if I wasn't doing that, I'd probably have been in no rush - since as I said I took my time with the Heavensward relic too.