FFXIV: Relic Reborn, Legendary Weapon Quest
Earning my relic weapon in FFXIV was my big gaming accomplishment this past weekend (I took a long weekend off work due to my birthday). I want to note that I haven’t started with the upgrade quests for this weapon, so this post is just looking at the Relic Reborn questline by itself.
The relic weapon in FFXIV is the iconic legendary weapon that you can earn for each class. My first class to 50 was bard, so I was working to earn my Artemis Bow, which looks like a combination of a harp and a bow.
The thing I enjoyed most about the Relic Reborn concept was that it gave the feel of a truly epic, multi-tiered quest, each challenge pushing you a little further than the last. You seek out what remains of a legendary relic of the past and bring it to the once-legendary weapon’s crafter, Gerolt. He sends you on a long quest line where you find a new base to merge the weapon with, bring items to empower your weapon, use it against fierce enemies, and put your skills to the test.
Now, before I started this quest, I knew what I was up against. I knew I’d have to tackle two large trial monsters, a high level dungeon and three hard mode primals. For a fresh level 50, this requires some upgrades to armor, which either come from running other dungeons, or amassing tomestones to pick up better artifact armor. I’ve been saving tomes for quite a while now, and have upgraded several pieces of armor over the past few months. I talked to folks in my Free Company, and they assured me I was where I needed to be to take it on.
So I did. And I succeeded!
For people who are fully geared with high level armor, these trials are yesterday’s news. For me, it was all scary and new. I did surprisingly well, just reading up and watching a few videos. While it helped that most the folks in my parties were experienced and well geared, I did everything I could to pull my weight and earn my weapon.
One of the cool things about the relic weapon is that it is, and will continue to be, upgradeable through future questlines added in patches. It’s sorta like LOTRO’s idea of legendary weapons… except done right. (Sorry LOTRO folks) Now, I do know there’s some controversy about the whole grinding Atma thing from patch 2.2. I’m one of the few people that don’t have problems going back to do FATES for things like this — I see it as helping to populate areas and assisting lower level players who need a hand with this open world content. I guess I’ll have to see where I stand with it when I get there, though.
This was a big enough accomplishment to hold me for a while, though. I’ve decided to spend time and tomes towards upgrading my accessories first before pursuing more weapon upgrades. Once I feel I can pull my weight in Brayflox HM runs, I’ll turn my thoughts back to saving for Relic +1.
Gotta get that Shikaree set!