The New FFXIV Relic Quest Is Broken – How SE Could Fix It
No, this is not going to be a piece complaining about how much I don’t want to farm Loathsome Memories. As loathsome as they indeed are, let’s be honest. They’re far from the worst thing we’ve been forced to endure over the long depressing history of FFXIV relic weapons.
While I won’t regale you with the tales of farming Dynamis currency in Final Fantasy XI, look no further than grinding Aetherochemical Research Facility for Umbrite for fond memories of how awful relic weapons can be. As bad as farming 15 of these memories will be, break it up into farming 3 Crystal Tower runs a day, and you’ll be done in less than a week.
The bigger issue to me is actually unlocking the relic weapon. Anyone who has been trying to get caught up on Bozja recently probably knows exactly the issue I’m referring to: Castrum Lacus Litore. So let’s break down the issues we’re facing and how Square-Enix can fix it.
The Problem
So in between farming FATES and Critical Engagements, you’ve probably occasionally seen the large-scale critical engagement Castrum Lacus Litore pop up. If you’re rank 10, you’ll be able to unlock the mission that assigns you to complete this event. And that’s where the problems begin.
To advance in the story, you MUST complete Castrum Lacus Litore. Doing so requires roughly 24 competent players, or 40+ if you’re full of first-timers. Indeed the Bozjan southern front presents many great challenges, but none on the level of this one.
The main issue with finding people to do this run with are:
1. There’s no good way of knowing when it will pop.
2. There’s no good reward incentive for players to want to complete it multiple times.
3. The mettle loss on death actively discourages players from doing it again.
So let’s address these one at a time.
How to know when the event will pop
This is the best solution that Square-Enix could implement. Put Castrum Lacus Litore into the Duty Finder. While players are busy grinding mettle or farming memories of the dying, they could also be queueing into Castrum.
Every other major event in the game is in the Duty Finder, so why wouldn’t this one be? As far as I can tell, it’s because Bozjan Southern Front already acts like a duty and therefore players can’t queue up while inside there. That said, I think we would all happily trade Castrum being taken out of Bozja and made a separate duty.
Square Enix clearly agrees with us too, which is why they made Delubrum Reginae a separate queue. The Save the Queen areas should all be their own separate instance that we can access in the Duty Finder, it would basically solve all other problems at once.
There’s nothing worthwhile that drops out of Castrum
Assuming that Square-Enix can’t put Lacus Litore into the Duty Finder due to architecture problems, this would be the next best way of fixing the problem. At the end of the day, we’ll risk our hard earned mettle if the reward is there. A few more mounts, minions, Orchestrion rolls… any of these would be incentive enough for us to dive back into Castrum.
The one thing it can’t be is: Out of the goodness of your heart and to help other players. Listen, I’m all about helping other players. But when the game is actively punishing me for doing so via loss of mettle, then I’m not feeling a whole lot of incentive.
At the end of the day, we all want to get our resistance weapons, but Square-Enix has to make it worth our while to help out. Final Fantasy XIV has always been good about incentivizing players to go back and do old combat through duty roulettes, tomestone drops, and Wondrous Tails. I refuse to believe they can’t come up with something good enough to get me back into Castrum Lacus Litore.
At least don’t actively punish me for trying to help
Okay. Let’s say that due to server architecture, there’s no way to put Lacus Litore into the duty finder without a massive system overhaul. And beyond that, everyone at Square-Enix has a lobotomy and can no longer come up with good ways to incentivize people to do the event.
Then they need to at least stop punishing players for trying to help their fellow Eorzean. The Blades of Gunnhildr storyline is actually one of their better side-stories, and everyone should put the work in to experience it. But I’m sorry, for many people it is not feasible to do at the moment.
While I don’t like shortcuts in my MMO, I do believe people should be able to do the events that are put into the game if they put the work in. But when ‘putting the work in’ becomes about tracking down discord servers to put runs together rather than grinding it out in game, then your event is a failure. I shouldn’t have to use a third party to put together a group to play the game.
And in case you’re wondering…
No, I am not another salty Final Fantasy XIV player who is stuck on Castrum Lacus Litore. I’m rank 15, I’ve completed Castrum and Delubrum Reginae. I just feel for the litany of players out there trying to start their relic grind who are stuck behind a broken event.
All the way back to A Realm Reborn, Square-Enix has found ways to keep players progressing through their content. I can’t imagine why this would be the time they just flat out give up on it. But until SE fixes it, find a discord that organizes runs, farm up some mettle, set your lost actions and may Hydaelyn help you.
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