Lack of potion/Ether use

[Headseed]

mega potion/ ethers restore 20% up to 600

[Yoohre_WildRiver]

i am a cul 50 and cant stop craftig since release. Maybe i sell sutff because i sell cheaper than other retainers ( yeah i under cut you mr. I will charge you 6K for something that costs 2k or even less to make). So try what i do a put a modest price on your merchandise. Good luck

[Urthdigger]

most players will often forgoe costly luxuries such as these

This. If you want players to use them, you need to make them cheap. Even food isn't that expensive, and it lasts for half an hour. Medicines are either an instant effect, or last for a mere 40 seconds. This means that if a player is going to be using them effectively during a fight, they will be using several.

Whether it means popping potions to help survive a heavy duty boss or to reduce the need for the healer to heal folks other than the tank, or popping ethers to allow you to blow your MP away like crazy, or even using the various stat potions, any strategy where medicines are used will usually require a lot of them to be used. People will not require this a viable strategy if it requires plopping down an extra 50k each fight. However, if it only requires maybe an extra 2k gil spent on medicines, folks will be a lot more willing to spend the gil. I know folks can get plenty of gil from leves, but folks tend to be stingy when it comes to consumables. It's easy to justify spending all that money on a highly expensive piece of gear: It may last you for the rest of the game, and you can sell it back if need be. Spending a lot of money on potions is a different matter: It lasts you those 40 seconds, and then that money is gone, never to be seen again.

If you want players to not see them as a luxury item, you need to start by not seeing it as a luxury item yourself. I use plenty of potions myself, but that's because I make them myself for cheap. Hell, throat drops saved my party's ass last night. If I had to spend 50k gil over the course of a fight to avoid silence though? I'd tell my tank "Sorry bro, I was silenced. Better luck next time."

[OwenLacroix]

I want to use them! And I have 99 Ahriman Wings, and other mats for my ALC friends but my question is "where the hell are the Vampire Plants?" I would love to have Elixers on hand.

Many folks are busy trying to do every job/af thing as fast as possible (like they are going away next week) have faith once that settles folks will be exploring all the other cool changes with the new patch.

Keep crafting!

[Sephrick]

I want to use them! And I have 99 Ahriman Wings, and other mats for my ALC friends but my question is "where the hell are the Vampire Plants?" I would love to have Elixers on hand.

Many folks are busy trying to do every job/af thing as fast as possible (like they are going away next week) have faith once that settles folks will be exploring all the other cool changes with the new patch.

Keep crafting!

My LS got some in the chest after killing Deepvoid Slave in Darkhold. Only place I've seen them.

[Arumat]

As someone said before, there needs to be some content that needs the items, although it seems they help right now, until LS leaders are doing checks or reminding members to bring items to do things like remove silence or wake you when your slept (if the fights really tough then potions/ethers also), they will not be popular. Only those that like to be ready for anything will carry them and most people don't like to take up inventory space for that.

Remembering back to my FFXI days (stopped playing about a month before 80 cap) I only bought Potions and Ethers for the CoP missions and for lower-level BCNMs and some other one time stuff. I bought for CoP missions (I helped a ton of people do missions because I found the challenge fun) because they were almost a must in most cases (can't always get the good players) to win the fight without 5/6 people dead and someones 2h finishing the boss off while on red HP. The ones for BCNMs were to make sure I got the win when soloing them. Outside of those one time deals or just helping people on CoP, I always carried the normal stuff for endgame events. (invis/snk/poison/sleep/ and the remove silence ones)

[TheFatHousecat]

I don't know about you guys, but my LS has been using them, and not even to their full potential. Mega-ethers/potions are great in a bind when you don't want to make your WHM peel off the tank to help you out, or can't afford to wait for mp regen. The stat pots are basically THE way to min/max your DPS on caster/DD depending on how well your tank keeps hate. If your tank can't keep hate as well? Maddening potions/Nerve drops are great for that too. That's only a few examples, too. I don't understand why people aren't utilizing the new recipes more often because I sure am.

[Bocajo]

Headseed, I'm on your server, and have been looking for potions daily, but never see the ones I want for sale. Make some nerve drops man! lol

[Scarface]

We have committed 5 mill of our LS bank to potions, and supplies for 5 chest SPEED runs only.

However, using them is a different story.... HAHA~

[Mikita]

I thought 1.21 would give a huge boost to Alchemists, but it doesn't seem to have turned out that way.

The biggest thing holding me back from using potions and ethers is their effective duration and re-use times compared to food items.

As a mage, I'd love to have Hi- or Mega-Potions of the Mind and Piety, but at just 40 seconds effect duration and a 3 ~ 4 minute re-use it hardly seems worth it.

Elixirs, on the other hand, look very interesting despite their long cooldowns.
But they are scarce in the markets on Saronia and very overpriced when they do appear.

Hopefully SE will keep an eye on the situation and adjust things to make them more appealing and accessible.