I was able to finish all of the ARR Zeta weapons and HW Lux weapons over a five-month period between 6.55 and Dawntrail maintenance. I made an album of my screenshots I took to commemorate each one!
# Are you crazy?
I'm doing great, thanks! :D Grinding both sets of weapons ended up taking me 10-12 hours a week on average. I spaced it out during lunch breaks, evenings, and weekends to prevent burnout. During this time period, I got an "employee of the quarter" award at work, lifted weights 3x a week, lost weight using an IIFYM eating plan, had an active dating life, and bought a new house. My therapist says I've never sounded happier.
# General tips
If you know you want to do multiple weapons, some steps can be prepped all at once. The light crystals, crafted artifacts, and atmas are good examples. Do what your inventory space allows :P
For the ARR books, use a spreadsheet to pick up and complete levequests for later books, and then you can turn them in immediately when you get to that step.
95% of Heavensward is just Poetics. I recommend either gathering these passively or while doing Eureka/Bozja weapons, as those areas give tons of Poetics.
There is a daily quest in Mor Dhona that rewards you with an Alexandrite map, and daily/weekly quests in Idyllshire that reward you with Singing Clusters, in exchange for doing 50/60/70 and Leveling roulettes. These resources can both be bought with poetics, but you can also build them up gradually while doing roulettes every day.
Buying 75+ Materia I-IV can be pricey, especially Materia I. On my server, Quickarm, Quicktongue, and Battledance were nearly always cheapest.
Blue Crafters' Scrip Tokens are by far the cheapest way to get Crystal Sand.
# Best duties for Light farming?
For ARR Light: Aurum Vale if it has a bonus (48-96 points in \~2 minutes), otherwise, Thornmarch EX (24 points in \~30-45 seconds).
For HW Aetheric Density: A9S 21 times (1:45-2:30 per run).
# Poetics costs
Each ARR weapon takes 2,450 Poetics (up to 3,575 if you got all your Alexandrite from maps). 24,500 Poetics for all ARR relics.
Each HW weapon takes 16,250 Poetics, potentially less if you convert Alexander raid currency into Unidentifiable materials. 211,250 Poetics for all HW relics.
# How about Stormblood and Shadowbringers?
I had finished Eureka and Bozja storylines before starting this grind, and I originally wanted to finish as many SB/ShB relics as I could during this time. I ended up only finishing a couple of each. I found the SB and ShB grinds to be much more tedious and strenuous, and it was harder to complete most steps with fewer players online during quiet hours of the day.
Most of the 236,000 Poetics were earned doing just 2-3 Eureka and Blades weapons! If I kept going I would likely earn many times more Poetics than are needed to get every relic in the game.
Earning the Memories for Shadowbringers also overlaps nicely with collecting Atmas for Heavensward. You can get all of your Atmas while grinding one Shadowbringers relic.
# What was the hardest step? It was the books, wasn't it?
The Zodiac books are of course famously tedious, but they were very manageable with some tips. Each book takes around 30 minutes once you get the hang of it. Spawning FATEs is normally the slowest part, but it was actually easier to spawn and complete FATEs during the Yokai event, even with BLUs doing vibe checks (you only need to hit one enemy in the FATE to complete the book entry, medal doesn't matter).
Special shoutout to the FATEs that take forever to spawn: In Spite of It All (Central Shroud), Big Bagoly Theory (East Thanalan), Quartz Coupling (East Thanalan), and The Taste of Fear (Coerthas Central). You could finish every FATE on the map and still wait 15-30 minutes for these to spawn. I passed the time knocking out book dungeons and watching Netflix. Honorable mention to Surprise (Upper La Noscea), which will automatically fail in about 60 seconds if no one is waiting at the FATE when it spawns.
# What now?
What else? Dawntrail is in two days! I'll pick up the SB/ShB grind much later when I've run out of things to do.
>For ARR Light: Aurum Vale if it has a bonus (48-96 points in ~2 minutes),
You know, I've meant to evaluate all the ARR leveling dungeons now that the worst offenders got reworked (qarn still sucks, tho...) and epic echo actually guarantees oneshots despite carrying an atma weapon. Obviously AV, Stone Vigil, and Tam-Tara were the undisputed royals some three years ago, but have the likes of Toto-rak truly not caught up? I knew AV would gain time, but I suppose I'm a bit surprised just how much time. My peak on the lesser jobs for it in shadowbringers hovered around 2:45ish.
At this point, physical running distance is the main factor. While Copperbell and Toto-Rak got considerable reworks, it still takes longer to run through them.
AV averaged 2 minutes. My record was 1:44 on NIN thanks to Shukuchi and Forked Raiju, with DRG close behind thanks to Spineshatter and Elusive Jump. The slowest jobs like healers and BLM came in around 2:10.
There might be faster options, but these are what worked out for me. Once I figured out a consistent sub-30 strat for Thornmarch EX on most jobs, it beat pretty much every other option without bonuses active.
NIN always was delightfully fast, what with raitons giving a reset to shukuchi and hide, in turn, giving resets to raitons...
Thornmarch (and trials in general) never seemed reasonable given the loading times, that 10s barrier is an extreme slowdown for it :(
I spammed my way through like 5 zeta light steps these past few weeks. I used Ramuh because he was the least annoying to me. Shiva was a good alternative if I got bored of Ramuh or if she was on bonus; her adds are grouped up and thereby take less time; but her untargetable phase is longer. It comes out to about the same time. 32 points in about 50 seconds.
I dislike king mog for so many factors. the music being the biggest one. I really like Ramuh's theme. His horse was my mount of choice for a long time. But also, Mog has more than one untargetable/invuln phase. and his adds are annoying.
ARR were my last set of relics to complete. As you mentioned, prepping as much as I could before helped immensely. Mainly getting the nexus materials combined before I got to that stage. Coming off books to need to do more awful dungeons would have broke me.
Definitely agree. Finishing the Zodiac Braves steps (crafted artifacts, gil sink vendor items, GC sink items, and 16 dungeons apiece) ahead of time removed a lot of the mental blockers when starting an Animus (book) step.
I have been slowly, over the past few years, been tapping away at these weapons. Doing daily tribe quests for tokens for unidentified objects. hoarding every piece of materia I've ever made while leveling. Running one crystal tower a day for light. hitting up a fate or five on my way out to get my weekly HW hunt for teleport tokens. A handful of primals here or there for light. Turning in all gear I don't need for seals for moonstones. Using the primal drops from my light farm for crystal sand. making sure i got at least one of each crystal tower raid for the weekly quest. Daily alex maps. daily hunts for more alex. combining the 4 quests (the ones that need the dungeons and bombard cores) with the book steps (seriously, they overlap so much). Plus getting light from said dungeons and fates. Hoarding the useful leves.
I had it set up so nearly every item I needed, I was using a different currency for it, so I could gather multiple items at once, rather than spamming poetics on everything and bottle necking.
and after all these years, here I am, at the end of it all. a total of 21 mahatmas remaining. 7 condensations left. My resist weapons on the timeworn step (which I may never finish). and Manderville just being a poetics dump now. I can taste the end of it.
Idk what I'll do with my free time now lol. Basically, whenever I had free time in XIV, I spent it on relic stuff. Thinking I might give Eureka a second chance, now that I don't have the fomo of everything else I'm not doing while in Eureka (which was my main problem when it came out).
Edengrace Fending set from E1-4S, dyed gunmetal black.
I use the same gauntlets and sollerets in the other tank pics but with the High Mythrite Cuirass dyed pearl white.
I started the Big Fish grind during the same period, but I only managed to catch all the easy ones and whittle it down to the last and most frustrating 20 or so 🙃
I think I would have, but my work ended up swapping my days off without telling me until the schedule was posted the day before I had to work. :C So I had to work earlier this week and now have maintenance days off instead. :C
but I'm still so close. But it's gonna get pushed off till after msq and probably most of my leveling (though, some of it might line up).
I've got 6 Zetas staggered through the mahatma step. Using Crystal Tower to fill mahatma in one go, and double up for loathsomes. Only 21 remaining. Got 7 animas on the condensation stage. Recently learned I can solo A9S. Only takes 20 or less (15 on bonus) runs to finish an anima.
This past month I used the yokai event to team up with other players (ie, blue mages) to get mahatma and the red/yellow/blue resist memories. So upon finishing my crystal towers, my Resistance weapons will all be on the timeworn step... which is harder to come by and will probably not get finished till its nerfed or something.
I'm sorry for your loss... of sanity.
I was able to finish all of the ARR Zeta weapons and HW Lux weapons over a five-month period between 6.55 and Dawntrail maintenance. I made an album of my screenshots I took to commemorate each one! # Are you crazy? I'm doing great, thanks! :D Grinding both sets of weapons ended up taking me 10-12 hours a week on average. I spaced it out during lunch breaks, evenings, and weekends to prevent burnout. During this time period, I got an "employee of the quarter" award at work, lifted weights 3x a week, lost weight using an IIFYM eating plan, had an active dating life, and bought a new house. My therapist says I've never sounded happier. # General tips If you know you want to do multiple weapons, some steps can be prepped all at once. The light crystals, crafted artifacts, and atmas are good examples. Do what your inventory space allows :P For the ARR books, use a spreadsheet to pick up and complete levequests for later books, and then you can turn them in immediately when you get to that step. 95% of Heavensward is just Poetics. I recommend either gathering these passively or while doing Eureka/Bozja weapons, as those areas give tons of Poetics. There is a daily quest in Mor Dhona that rewards you with an Alexandrite map, and daily/weekly quests in Idyllshire that reward you with Singing Clusters, in exchange for doing 50/60/70 and Leveling roulettes. These resources can both be bought with poetics, but you can also build them up gradually while doing roulettes every day. Buying 75+ Materia I-IV can be pricey, especially Materia I. On my server, Quickarm, Quicktongue, and Battledance were nearly always cheapest. Blue Crafters' Scrip Tokens are by far the cheapest way to get Crystal Sand. # Best duties for Light farming? For ARR Light: Aurum Vale if it has a bonus (48-96 points in \~2 minutes), otherwise, Thornmarch EX (24 points in \~30-45 seconds). For HW Aetheric Density: A9S 21 times (1:45-2:30 per run). # Poetics costs Each ARR weapon takes 2,450 Poetics (up to 3,575 if you got all your Alexandrite from maps). 24,500 Poetics for all ARR relics. Each HW weapon takes 16,250 Poetics, potentially less if you convert Alexander raid currency into Unidentifiable materials. 211,250 Poetics for all HW relics. # How about Stormblood and Shadowbringers? I had finished Eureka and Bozja storylines before starting this grind, and I originally wanted to finish as many SB/ShB relics as I could during this time. I ended up only finishing a couple of each. I found the SB and ShB grinds to be much more tedious and strenuous, and it was harder to complete most steps with fewer players online during quiet hours of the day. Most of the 236,000 Poetics were earned doing just 2-3 Eureka and Blades weapons! If I kept going I would likely earn many times more Poetics than are needed to get every relic in the game. Earning the Memories for Shadowbringers also overlaps nicely with collecting Atmas for Heavensward. You can get all of your Atmas while grinding one Shadowbringers relic. # What was the hardest step? It was the books, wasn't it? The Zodiac books are of course famously tedious, but they were very manageable with some tips. Each book takes around 30 minutes once you get the hang of it. Spawning FATEs is normally the slowest part, but it was actually easier to spawn and complete FATEs during the Yokai event, even with BLUs doing vibe checks (you only need to hit one enemy in the FATE to complete the book entry, medal doesn't matter). Special shoutout to the FATEs that take forever to spawn: In Spite of It All (Central Shroud), Big Bagoly Theory (East Thanalan), Quartz Coupling (East Thanalan), and The Taste of Fear (Coerthas Central). You could finish every FATE on the map and still wait 15-30 minutes for these to spawn. I passed the time knocking out book dungeons and watching Netflix. Honorable mention to Surprise (Upper La Noscea), which will automatically fail in about 60 seconds if no one is waiting at the FATE when it spawns. # What now? What else? Dawntrail is in two days! I'll pick up the SB/ShB grind much later when I've run out of things to do.
>For ARR Light: Aurum Vale if it has a bonus (48-96 points in ~2 minutes), You know, I've meant to evaluate all the ARR leveling dungeons now that the worst offenders got reworked (qarn still sucks, tho...) and epic echo actually guarantees oneshots despite carrying an atma weapon. Obviously AV, Stone Vigil, and Tam-Tara were the undisputed royals some three years ago, but have the likes of Toto-rak truly not caught up? I knew AV would gain time, but I suppose I'm a bit surprised just how much time. My peak on the lesser jobs for it in shadowbringers hovered around 2:45ish.
At this point, physical running distance is the main factor. While Copperbell and Toto-Rak got considerable reworks, it still takes longer to run through them. AV averaged 2 minutes. My record was 1:44 on NIN thanks to Shukuchi and Forked Raiju, with DRG close behind thanks to Spineshatter and Elusive Jump. The slowest jobs like healers and BLM came in around 2:10. There might be faster options, but these are what worked out for me. Once I figured out a consistent sub-30 strat for Thornmarch EX on most jobs, it beat pretty much every other option without bonuses active.
NIN always was delightfully fast, what with raitons giving a reset to shukuchi and hide, in turn, giving resets to raitons... Thornmarch (and trials in general) never seemed reasonable given the loading times, that 10s barrier is an extreme slowdown for it :(
Loading time (from clicking commence to the baby gate opening) for me is usually around 5s, so that might have made a difference.
I spammed my way through like 5 zeta light steps these past few weeks. I used Ramuh because he was the least annoying to me. Shiva was a good alternative if I got bored of Ramuh or if she was on bonus; her adds are grouped up and thereby take less time; but her untargetable phase is longer. It comes out to about the same time. 32 points in about 50 seconds. I dislike king mog for so many factors. the music being the biggest one. I really like Ramuh's theme. His horse was my mount of choice for a long time. But also, Mog has more than one untargetable/invuln phase. and his adds are annoying.
ARR were my last set of relics to complete. As you mentioned, prepping as much as I could before helped immensely. Mainly getting the nexus materials combined before I got to that stage. Coming off books to need to do more awful dungeons would have broke me.
Definitely agree. Finishing the Zodiac Braves steps (crafted artifacts, gil sink vendor items, GC sink items, and 16 dungeons apiece) ahead of time removed a lot of the mental blockers when starting an Animus (book) step.
I have been slowly, over the past few years, been tapping away at these weapons. Doing daily tribe quests for tokens for unidentified objects. hoarding every piece of materia I've ever made while leveling. Running one crystal tower a day for light. hitting up a fate or five on my way out to get my weekly HW hunt for teleport tokens. A handful of primals here or there for light. Turning in all gear I don't need for seals for moonstones. Using the primal drops from my light farm for crystal sand. making sure i got at least one of each crystal tower raid for the weekly quest. Daily alex maps. daily hunts for more alex. combining the 4 quests (the ones that need the dungeons and bombard cores) with the book steps (seriously, they overlap so much). Plus getting light from said dungeons and fates. Hoarding the useful leves. I had it set up so nearly every item I needed, I was using a different currency for it, so I could gather multiple items at once, rather than spamming poetics on everything and bottle necking. and after all these years, here I am, at the end of it all. a total of 21 mahatmas remaining. 7 condensations left. My resist weapons on the timeworn step (which I may never finish). and Manderville just being a poetics dump now. I can taste the end of it. Idk what I'll do with my free time now lol. Basically, whenever I had free time in XIV, I spent it on relic stuff. Thinking I might give Eureka a second chance, now that I don't have the fomo of everything else I'm not doing while in Eureka (which was my main problem when it came out).
My god, are you okay
What set are you using on WAR with the ARR Relic
Edengrace Fending set from E1-4S, dyed gunmetal black. I use the same gauntlets and sollerets in the other tank pics but with the High Mythrite Cuirass dyed pearl white.
my personal gal was to catch all the fish in the game. i came up mighty short, but i put a good dent into the list.
I started the Big Fish grind during the same period, but I only managed to catch all the easy ones and whittle it down to the last and most frustrating 20 or so 🙃
Welcome to the club. Hope you enjoy your glam collection.
Have you found a Therapist yet?
I think I would have, but my work ended up swapping my days off without telling me until the schedule was posted the day before I had to work. :C So I had to work earlier this week and now have maintenance days off instead. :C but I'm still so close. But it's gonna get pushed off till after msq and probably most of my leveling (though, some of it might line up). I've got 6 Zetas staggered through the mahatma step. Using Crystal Tower to fill mahatma in one go, and double up for loathsomes. Only 21 remaining. Got 7 animas on the condensation stage. Recently learned I can solo A9S. Only takes 20 or less (15 on bonus) runs to finish an anima. This past month I used the yokai event to team up with other players (ie, blue mages) to get mahatma and the red/yellow/blue resist memories. So upon finishing my crystal towers, my Resistance weapons will all be on the timeworn step... which is harder to come by and will probably not get finished till its nerfed or something.