Discuss : Have boosts been detrimental to the playerbase

It really depends. If someone is boosting as a new player to skip straight into the latest content, then they're only harming their own experience and enjoyment of the game more than anybody else's. However, if someone is boosting an alt character or simply just extra jobs then it's entirely fine. Ultimately buying a boost isn't the sign of a bad player but rather their interaction with the systems. I'd never recommend boosting/skipping the story as a new player but given that levelling additional jobs is incredibly boring, boost any job boosts that you can afford.

I used to be agaisnt skip potions when we only had heavensward and stormblood; but after playing GW2 and how they let you start at the latest expansion I changed my mind. I feel that quest levels 1-30 should be required before you can skip so that you learn how to play at least though; even irl you need a training period.

Skips are fine what we really needed;
A) An far more improved Hall of Novice
B) Have it required for those that skip at least AAR
C) Have a pop-up asking for reintroduction to it for those that havent played 30days+

Honestly whats the most detrimental to the playerbase isn't skips.

It's the poor content for early level which leads to some people skipping or just thinking the game is bad, Arr gameplay/story is awful telling people to go through so many hours just to get to the "good parts" is what makes new players leave.

HW is good for story but the combat content, is still lagging behind.

Personally I think ARR needs to be overhauled and early game combat needs to be overhauled, Skips would be less needed if the old content was actually good and kept fun.

We had this discussion long before they added the boost features.

Back then it was people who where leveling with Fates which had no idea how to play their job, then it was people who where leveling with Palace of the Dead and now we have the people who are using boosts.

It's a scapegoat.

People either want to learn how to play their job and spend the effort doing so - or not. What method they used for leveling doesn't really matter in the end.

I personally think they have been a boon rather than a detriment, and I think JoCat's video about it describes it best.
Simply put: Not everyone has the time and willpower to power through hundreds of hours of story, and will give up somewhere along the way. Some people just need to reach the end-game before deciding whether they want to stay or not. The boosts & skips do help with this as they shorten the time to reach their desired point.

I've had a few friends doing it this way and they loved it! They're still playing actively now and are even doing NG+ in their own pace to get the story they missed the first time 'round. Sure, it won't work for everyone, some prefer to go through it as intended, but for others this is a valid way, I think.

I'm also not too worried about them being bad, as others have stated: Those wanting to improve will improve on their own, those who don't care are a lost case from the get-go. Sure it's not the most fun to get someone in a max-level duty and have them run around like a chicken without a head. Though on the flip side, I've seen plenty of long-term players that act the very same way and don't care much about improving their playstyle either. Makes me wonder what's worse... :confused:

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Originally Posted by Hanayumi

Skips are fine what we really needed;
A) An far more improved Hall of Novice

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Out of curiosity, did you have any other MMORPG in mind when you wrote this?

I don't remember other MMORPGs providing any of the information provided in the current Hall of Novice, let alone an improved version of same. Tutorials on "how to combo" in Blade and Soul might be close.

Boosts haven't had any negative affect. There are stories of players that have been suspected (it's hard to tell for sure) of skipping and playing badly, but that's not a given. I've seen new players that found low level boring and skipped to higher levels only to become more engaged with the deeper rotations. In that way skips can help player retention. Playing through the entire game also doesn't make a player good. It's very easy to just breeze through MSQ content without actually knowing how to play well and then there are players that come and go. A level 90 player can login and play every day, or they may come back to the game after a year long break and forget how to play while having access to all or most content.

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Originally Posted by DPZ2

Out of curiosity, did you have any other MMORPG in mind when you wrote this?

I don't remember other MMORPGs providing any of the information provided in the current Hall of Novice, let alone an improved version of same. Tutorials on "how to combo" in Blade and Soul might be close.

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I think if the hall of the novice was improved to educate people on the various/basic stack markers, tank busters etc, we'd benefit from it. If they improve it, they can make it required for people who boost for the first time on their account. To familiarize them with basic game mechanics.

I'd take it as far as teaching tanks to use their mits but I think that might be abit too much to expect. I still see people sometimes think healer stacks are stackable due to the stack marker being used in CT....and well, you're not getting punished for being piled up. I think that's a confusing/bad idea to introduce the stack marker to that mechanic.

I dout we'd have an improved hall of novice tho.


All in all, boosts dip into the market of people who may not have interest or time but have money to skip story/levels. I've seen some who play poorly but luckily they're usually one off at a time. I think at most they might be a minor inconvenience if the person who boosted is simply clueless, but those are pretty rare (in my personal experience)

It's a double edged sword, since it helps in some ways and hurts in others. That being said, it only hurts for a little while before these boosters learn their stuff. Most of them, anyway. I know a few people who have "leveled gunbreaker in secret, overnight, from 60-80" and never bothered to get good at the job, or game for that matter. Those people generally are more interested in gposing and glams, and social stuff than actual gameplay though, and spend most of their time hopping around from place to place while not running content aside from msq. So yeah it sucks when you meet one in a roulette, but its the equivalent of meeting someone who is fresh off hiatus after 2 years. What can ya do besides deal with it?