Yoshida' stance on PL and why it is less than ideal.

[Eekiki]

You assume that I want to...? I know better than that.

You must, otherwise you wouldn't have said anything.

[CrystalWeapon]

Just because you see an "=" doesn't mean it's Mathematics. Take a Logic (aka Philosophy) course when you get to college. Of course you don't care... does a monkey care about the number of fingers it has?

Even in logical classes A=B, B=C, A=C is always true. Similarly A->B, B->C, A->C is always true. Equality is exactly that regardless of whether you're talking logic, math, or science and the same rules apply.

[ViolentDjango]

A) New Players can essentially skip low-midgame content
Completely new players won't have access to the necessary tools or know-how to make this happened. Additionally, someone who's PL'd is going to learn about the game from someone who already knows whats going on, and in cases of important low-mid game content, they will be referred at particular levels if the content is actually worth doing.

Example from my own experience. When i started playing WoW I was leagues behind many of my friends who played. They helped me tons to level up quickly (which was easy because I joined at a time when being referred got you tons of bonus EXP.) However, around a certain level, she would tell me to go do certain dungeons (or I would decide to do them myself) that would yield me gear worthy of having until the next level milestone, whether I was PL'd or not.

So I did that content because it was there, interesting, and fun regardless of being PL'd. If there is fun content, people won't skip, and PL'ers will refer people they are PL'ing to it rather than speeding them through levels. Good content remedies PL issues, even if PLing isn't hindered.

B) New Players can essentially ignore the economy up until level 50
New players ignore the economy until mid-late game anyway. New players don't have money and contribute nothing to the economy until significantly later in the game. Furthermore, Combat classes make up less than a 3rd of the game's economy -- and Crafting/Gathering classes cannot be power leveled.

C) New Players can essentially ignore the party play component of the game that the new patch fully supports otherwise.
Party play is completely optional now that you can stockpile leves. I could get a class to level 25 in day if I felt compelled to invest hours into burning all of my leves -- I had 36 after I logged on the other day, and I just made my character. I could easily get any number of jobs to 20's with that easily. Partying is and always has been an optional thing for players. People who want to party can party and get obvious benefits from it. People who don't want to, don't have to. That's the point of the system as it is designed.

D) Any Player with no access to a PL does not have power to do any of this, and as such is in a drastically worse position as the result.
Not having access to a PL inspires people to make friends with higher level people and active linkshells if they so desire to be power leveled. Being inspired to socialize with other players, even for purposes such as PL'ing, (Which conceivably is always why you seek out allies -- be it for "PL"ing through levels, getting assistance through quests from higher level/more experienced players, or getting help through end game content with a more experienced group -- which is essentially level-less PL'ing because you never pull your own weight your first time doing end game) is a good thing.

E) Leveling becomes a hindrance rather than a method to achieve a goal.
As I've found myself re-stating constantly, leveling has always just been a hindrance. Its merely something used to slow players down and occupy/attach them to the experience while developers make more content. Considering a good half of the players here are already at level cap, people getting PL'd isn't going to make anyone less interested in playing hte game because many of the higher level players already appreciate the lack of endgame content.

If you want to read my full opinion on the PL issue, its on my blog (linked in my sig). The issue has no real effect on anyone other than the person being PL'd, its distinctly personal and has no lasting effect on the community at all. The problem, as it were, is that if Yoshi is going to have this attitude about it, he needs to focus his team on creating substantial, entertaining, and compelling content that inspires people to take their time or at least keeps people interested for the long term. Consdering that, from what I've heard speculated, Jobs will be leveled based on quests and not EXP -- I don't think PL'ing will do much beyond get you to level 50, which seems like its the 20-30% completion mark for the direction the game is heading.

[Holland]

As far as I can see, even with the PL option, there are regulars parties being formed without any problems. You are assuming this will go to the extent where there are no regular parties formed. Like everything in an MMO, everything can be adjusted. I am sure if it comes to that, SE will adjust the PL issue. Up until now, it is not, so let it be if its not affecting you. I am of the mindset that if I have the time, I would rather do grind parties or anything fun to level up. It is rather boring to receive and to give PL but I am glad the option is there if I'm up for it one day for myself or friends.

This thread is like every other doom thread and I predict that like every other doom thread we freak out times rolls on, nothing happens. Everyone wants the game to succeed, but we need to let the Dev Team do their job, in most cases they can foresee unwanted outcomes better than players.

[Zaireeka2025]

Even in logical classes A=B, B=C, A=C is always true. Similarly A->B, B->C, A->C is always true. Equality is exactly that regardless of whether you're talking logic, math, or science and the same rules apply.

Whatever you said, um sure. Point was, B is irrelevant which makes C irrelevant... aka (=, ->, thus, etc) Yoshi cares about the "journey" because there is content added to enjoy. Betel's OP stance that Yoshi only wants us to rocket to endgame is moot.

Yoshi allowing us to PL each other is a choice of freedom and comradery on his part. As for those who want to sit down and prove a point by trying your absolute hardest to point out the PL issue by sitting and getting PL'd for 19 hours straight and screenshotting an XIVPADS image of what's possible with enough system abuse... well, that's something SE may have to change in order for everyone to shut up about the PL issue. The game was designed for ppl who like to play games, not for ppl who find ways to abuse the system and bark like angry dogs.

[Travesty]

As far as I can see, even with the PL option, there are regulars parties being formed without any problems. You are assuming this will go to the extent where there are no regular parties formed. Like everything in an MMO, everything can be adjusted. I am sure if it comes to that, SE will adjust the PL issue. Up until now, it is not, so let it be if its not affecting you. I am of the mindset that if I have the time, I would rather do grind parties or anything fun to level up. It is rather boring to receive and to give PL but I am glad the option is there if I'm up for it one day for myself or friends.

This thread is like every other doom thread and I predict that like every other doom thread we freak out times rolls on, nothing happens. Everyone wants the game to succeed, but we need to let the Dev Team do their job, in most cases they can foresee unwanted outcomes better than players.

The patch has only been out a week. A lot of players don't visit forums. I don't think it will ever get to the point of no regular parties being formed, but all a game mechanic as advantageous as this can do is grow in popularity. Once word starts really getting out and more people are hitting 50, you will see far fewer normal parties.

[Missionman]

So that is what yosipi think, great i have better reason to quit now

[Buddhsie]

I don't think that Yoshida values endgame over the rest of the game, for that reason I disagree with the OP. In my opinion Yoshi values friends being able to play together quickly rather than having to be alone (this is why friends of mine have started and quit soon after, because they are stuck at low levels and aren't able to play with me within a reasonable time period). Because he wants players to have an option to level up quickly to play with their friends, there will always be someone there to abuse this feature. His mindset would most likely be that he trusts people not to abuse this and level up a second and so on class properly after being powerleveled to play with their friends.

Any feature like this is always going to be abused, the only solution I can offer is that perhaps you could select one class to be able to be powerleveled, and only that one class recieve such high experience within a party with a lvl 50. Forsaking the start of the game to skip to endgame is ultimately a player's choice, it has nothing to do with Yoshida.

[Preypacer]

His mindset would most likely be that he trusts people not to abuse this and level up a second and so on class properly after being powerleveled to play with their friends.

If that's true, then he is hopelessly naive.

Any feature like this is always going to be abused, the only solution I can offer is that perhaps you could select one class to be able to be powerleveled, and only that one class recieve such high experience within a party with a lvl 50. Forsaking the start of the game to skip to endgame is ultimately a player's choice, it has nothing to do with Yoshida.

Or they can adjust the system so you can't be PL'd at all and instead implement a mentor or "level sync" system (though, better thought out and implemented than XI's broken and equally abused version)... Then those higher level players can still play with their lower level friends, help them level up. A benefit to that is it won't trivialize the content the lower friend is doing since they will effectively be the same level while sync'd, so the higher level player can't just plow through it all.

I really can't help but tell myself that this was just a massive oversight by Yoshi and/or his QA folks. I can't believe he'd deliberately want people to be able to get to level 50, potentially inside a day. I don't even think that's possible in WoW... though I might be wrong. Regardless... it's freaking stupid. RMT companies are going to love this.

[Buddhsie]

Hell if a friend of mine started playing there's no way I'd powerlevel them for more than a couple hours, I'd probably get them to about 30 and then tell them to do it themselves from there.

You'd probably be doing them (and ultimately yourself during endgame content) harm by not allowing them to learn how to play if you get them to 50 quickly, not to mention no cross class abilities. Realistically it's A LOT of powerleveling to get someone up to par, you'd want to really be BFFs lol.