I have a question. Is ATMA grinding really as tedious as everyone says or is a Vocal Minority complaining and Accentuating The Negative and while the Silent Majority gathers all of then with in 50 hours or less?
Wait, you consider it taking less than 50 hours to not be a grind? Speaking as someone who's been trying to get Atmas on and off for almost two weeks and has only managed to get three, I'm going to say yes, it is a fucking grind. It took maybe eight hours over six days to get the one from Outer La Noscea alone. I've tried maybe three hours or so in Middle La Noscea with no luck.
The thing is, it's not really fun to do the same few things over and over again. Squeenix's thinking seems to be 'no-one is doing these things, let's make them do it' rather than make something new. They did the same with guildhests and at least one dungeon too. At the same time, I understand that new content doesn't just appear out of thin air, and it's a subscription game so they want people to play for as long as possible. It just seems like Artificial Longevity to me.
edit - Could've sworn that was a trope.
edited 16th Jun '14 3:21:07 PM by artfulscruff
Because the Atma drops are so reliant on RNG, opinions will vary. Some people gotten all 12 in just a few days while others have not gotten a single one since the Atmas went live. I was lucky enough to get mine in just a week, but having to grind the same low level FATE over and over again until an Atma pops up is the most mind numbing thing anyone can do.
The fact that Atmas are so RNG is the reason why many get upset when someone brags that they got all 12 Atmas in a short time and try to silence anyone that complains about the RNG.
Remember, these idiots drive, fuck, and vote. Not always in that order.I heard it was based on the server time, but Yoshi confirmed that in was pure RNG.
Thing is, in FFXI, they did weird shit like that all the time without telling the players. There's even one example in this game: in Ampador City, the Gremlins can put an un-Esunable debuff on you called Misery, which can be removed using the /comfort emote. This is not mentioned in the game anywhere.
A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they will never sit in.The look away mechanic started in the Final Fantasy Tactics series. Gaze abilities either 100% land or never work at all if you are not looking directly at it.
Remember, these idiots drive, fuck, and vote. Not always in that order.It's not new to MM Os either. Several bosses in World Of Warcraft use that as a mechanic.

Almost as if to counterbalance the terrible group I got the other day, I got a good Titan-X group in DF today. We were able to get to the post-heart phase reliably, so I was able to get some valuable training on that section of the fight. We kept at it for a good half hour too, continuing through 5 or so wipes with no ragequitting. It's nice when that happens.
A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they will never sit in.