FFXIV - Relic Grinds and Why They Matter

People will only complain about it as current content. When you go back to do relics, EW is by far the best considering there are 19 classes. Imagine doing ARR Relic for 19 separate classes. Yeah, you'd hate yourself. The more classes, the less grind Relics have to be or people will serious change their tune.

insert hysterical laughter here

I personally dont mind this. Being around since arr, in arr the grind was the booms. In hw it was the sands. stb it was eureka. Shb it was bozja. This time its tomestones...because of this ive managed to get all my fav job relics, instead of one or two, and fully equip my entire sub fleet to farm gil. It shifted my goals. Granted its not for everyone, but for me personally, this was a nice break from the grinds of go do this thing for hours again. Hoping a return to a healthier grind in DT.

While I think relic grinds are actually quite fun (though Zodiac was one HELL of a commitment and Eureka and Bozja requiring other players to be doing specific content isn't great) I think the reason that the relics weren't much of a grind this time is ultimately because they're tied to the Manderville questline. They're not traditionally grindy weapons because the appeal is moreso in following the Hildi story. I still wish that they were anything BUT only causality tomes. I need something to use these damn poetics on, man!

I understand the point of a bonding experience and a badge of honor. But if we had them grinded through island sanctuaries and criterion dungeons, it'd be the same content we're having and it'd be a large grind. And there is a long grind if you haven't done the Mandeville quest. At least we could ask for a sense of closure where they had us go through the long cycle of the heroes journey

I don't know why this video appeared to me just now but... I prefer if it's something SIMPLE but DIVERSIFIED, I mean, the player at least needs to do A LITTLE bit OF EVERYTHING that exists in the expansion with a given class.
(On Endwalker it's Simple and Nothing 😢)

On Endwalker for me the ideal could be something like this:
1 Fate on each map, collect a little of the Raids itens, buy itens after some Hunts, one time each C/V Dugeon, maybe one time Smileton and Stigma, one time on each "normal" Roulette, and a little bit of itens bought with Gil and Tomes. (no steps needs to be exaggerated) all that for each single job.

The worst part for me, personally, was putting the relics behind TEN YEARS of Hildibrand quests. In a vacuum, I would've liked the stories, but having to sit through hours of unvoiced cutscenes and not much else made it an absolutely miserable experience. I don't like using the word "endure", but that's exactly what I did. After all that, getting through the relic quests was just a disappointing, frustrated relief.

I'm late to this video. I'm a returning player after many years away. Just started the Mandeville grind and for me it is a longer then just farming the items because I need to complete this very long story line. Not disagreeing with anything said here, I'd love more fates. But as someone who doesn't have the prerequisite quests done, there is more to it.

F CK the yo-kai watch event. 70 fates in one zone would have been a welcome number. I SPENT WAY TOO LONG IN THE UGA-MORO MINES. YO-KAI WATCH CAN BURN.

Bozja is the best content in the game. It's disappointing not to get something similar again. But I guess it could get too samey and predictable if they keep releasing self-contained areas for relic grinds.

Although this relic took very little effort

The relic grinds are too tedious, I got past a few steps on one ARR & HW weapon but it ended up being to much to continue with. It's not hard to do, just boring. I think they should have been tied to more difficult, but less time-consuming tasks. Take for example, what if they rebalanced a few boss fights so that you had to clear them solo with the specific weapon. Beating all of them with a certain class would demonstrate a mastery worthy of the prize. Clearing the same content over & over is just a time-waster imo.

Remember this, SE and Yoshi Are known and famous for listening to the community and make changes base on the majority of the community to make them happy and have a better time playing the game. That what makes FF14 standout and got good reviews. So for all these changes that we see coming, those who dislike it, perhaps take a moment to considering that you maybe belong to the minority% here and these changes will make the game better/healthier :D

While "grind" is a pretty broad word, I find that "novel content grind" is much more to the point for some players. Endwalker relic weapons offer no unique content. They are, therefore, meaningless for players who wish to engage with some form of novel content that culminates in novel gear. For some, this can be the difference between paying the sub or not.

There is a good chance I will never get a Manderville weapon. There is a good chance I'll do Castrum/Delubrum for no reason other than playing that content with other people. Someone else's idea of "grind" is my idea of having fun with a game I like playing. There are people with several resistance weapons who never felt what it's like to take a healer into Castrum with a proper essence and two useful lost actions, enjoying taking hold of the game, synergizing with other like-minded players and helping new people clear content. How many of us did og Delubrum and saw the +1 million dmg on the midares by fully prepped sams? Or the absurd numbers on a fully stocked misery? No, all we hear about is "the grind", as if these systems didn't offer novelty by design, always being goal-focused. But I digress. (Or do I?)

To reiterate, it's very simple: no novel content to "grind", no reason for prolonged subbing.

I don’t understand why people need to grind to feel satisfied. Maybe majority players are casual, work life balanced player ? When you check FCs I see many stated as work-life balance. However, you know what I cannot find enough people to go into the latest deep dungeon, maybe please add this as a requirement : )

The vocal minority who completed previous weapons are crying and everyone else is happy. That vocal minority need to grind less and touch more grass.

i have not gone for endwalker relic simply because i have not done the quest required to unlock them and i probably wont it is not something i enjoy about the game so no relic for me

I will say that I was genuinely shocked that the devs didn't tie the criterion dungeons into the relic weapon grind in some form. I know that they're considered "experimental" and were a completely new addition, but it feeds into the main problem with Endwalker: longevity. I did the Sil'dihn Subterrain until I got all the lore endings, the special boss, and maybe a couple more to get the minion and mount. All in all, it took me maybe 20 runs, and I haven't touched it since. If you wanted an easily solo-able OR community experience that would bolster relic grinders while not be too difficult or time consuming, the criterion dungeons seemed like a guaranteed hit. It would offer more than the extremely low amount of tomes, while also encouraging people to talk about faster routes, better boss strats, funny experiences if they do it with other people, etc.

I'm really, REALLY hoping this next step is at least a little more involved. If it isn't, I'm more than likely going to cancel my sub until 7.0. I'm going back to Uni in a little over two months, I'm barely going to have time for the game anyways, but if there isn't some form of long relic grinding that I can use to destress in my downtime, it's better for me and my wallet to take a long break.

Not gonna lie I would be STOKED if a relic step involved island sanctuary. Hell make a separate grind for specific upgraded Island Sanctuary gathering tools.

I think this is also a way to get people to do the manderville quests

Every relic I done so far (Zodaic, Anima, early bits of Bozja) have all been pretty miserable personally. Grinding out trivial content isn't my idea of fun, so I'd definitely prefer if they stuck to just tomes or other passive ways of getting it done while doing current content like expert roulette/savage clears.