Info about the Chinese Cash Shop "Level Jumping Potions"

[Jandor]

This is a problem. It is driving away new players.

Making access to Ishgard a level 50 quest, and access to Ala Mhigo a level 60 quest, would solve the "I didn't really get an MMO to play by myself" problem.

If they get bored with single player progression and decide they'd rather skip it then you or anyone else can come along and run them through dungeons, take them through palace, run FATEs with them, buy or craft them gear to wear, grind out the xp to take them past the story together basically.

As for replaying it later, "A Minstrels Ballad: A Realm Reborn" (and 'Minstrels Ballad: Heavensward'), same cutscenes, same dialogue, same objectives, different (if any) rewards, and crucially, technically different quests. No resetting anything required.

[Belhi]

Making access to Ishgard a level 50 quest, and access to Ala Mhigo a level 60 quest, would solve the "I didn't really get an MMO to play by myself" problem.

If they get bored with single player progression and decide they'd rather skip it then you or anyone else can come along and run them through dungeons, take them through palace, run FATEs with them, buy or craft them gear to wear, grind out the xp to take them past the story together basically.

As for replaying it later, "A Minstrels Ballad: A Realm Reborn" (and 'Minstrels Ballad: Heavensward'), same cutscenes, same dialogue, same objectives, different (if any) rewards, and crucially, technically different quests. No resetting anything required.

Just breaking the MSQ into separate quest chains might be a fix if it is technically possible but it likewise has its problems. People wanting to skip will need gear to handle the skip. Is it just handed out in the first quest or are they expected to go buy it from somewhere? Are people given any direction?

What about unlocked stuff. Case in point is the SMN questline which requires you go to the Great Gubul Library. Access to that only becomes available late in HW. Do they just remove that unlock? If that do that if will fundamentally effect the logic and the nature of the questflow through the first visit to Idylshire. Do they rebuild the questline to accommodate that?

It isn't actually that simple a solution. There is potentially a hell of a lot of reworking of the existing set up, let alone the actual system, just to accomidate such a split.

More over there is a technical system issue here. The reason I bring up replaying is because fundamentally the mechanics which would govern the split/skip of story are the same that effect the ability to replay quests. Yoshi P was asked this at the last Fanfest and he said that the system that controls how the quests are tracked complete or uncompleted and the related lock outs cannot allow for such a set up without completely resetting all that progression.

So yes. Resetting things is required.

i will be blunt, even if you play with your friend, when you do the main quest, you do it alone, even if they are here, it's a solo experience. we love or hate it, but that the point.
if you join a game for play with friend, if they help you to do dungeon, isn't playing with them?

How much of time have you actually spent playing the MSQ in the last say, 8 months? Now ask yourself how much time have you been playing FF14. Clearly the MSQ isn't all that you do with your time playing FF14. Infact it is a very small part of Endgame. Plus having max lvl character rush you though low level content doesn't really give the same appeal as doing things with your FC mates at max level.

I did say the levelling isn't the problem. Its the months of grinding through the MSQ that is what usually breaks people. If people just had to grind to 60 and could skip all the MSQ then it probably wouldn't be an issue.

[Jandor]

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I'm not sure if we are misunderstanding each other. I'm not suggesting they reset old quests, I'm suggesting it could be done by making what are technically new seperate quests.
So you hit 50, decide you want to skip the rest of the MSQ and head directly to the 'Coming to Ishgard' quest, completing it unlocks everything mandatory from 2.X and marks all those quests as done. As if a hypothetical jump potion had been taken.

Later on you decide you'd actually like to experience 2.0 story so you go to an NPC who "unlocks" it but actually behind the scenes they're "new" quests. The dialogue is the same, objectives are the same, it's essentially copy/pasted over but none of the "unlock" flags are there.

Redoing it would then essentially be an unrelated 'side quest' chain from the games PoV, that has got to be doable right?

[Belhi]

I'm not sure if we are misunderstanding each other. I'm not suggesting they reset old quests, I'm suggesting it could be done by making what are technically new seperate quests.
So you hit 50, decide you want to skip the rest of the MSQ and head directly to the 'Coming to Ishgard' quest, completing it unlocks everything mandatory from 2.X and marks all those quests as done. As if a hypothetical jump potion had been taken.

Later on you decide you'd actually like to experience 2.0 story so you go to an NPC who "unlocks" it but actually behind the scenes they're "new" quests. The dialogue is the same, objectives are the same, it's essentially copy/pasted over but none of the "unlock" flags are there.

Redoing it would then essentially be an unrelated 'side quest' chain from the games PoV, that has got to be doable right?

What your talking about sounds like a pretty massive amount of work and by the way they have talked about how the quest system works, potentially not feasible.

For example, lets consider phasing. You have characters and terrain that changes as the quests progress. What happens if that phasing conflicts? A wall is there for one quest but isn't for the other. Which quest takes priority in the phasing?

I seriously doubt its a simple case of cut and paste.

Let's not pretend that SE hasn't thought about this a lot. They know that a Jump Potion is controversial. However they also know the problem that exists and the systems that any fix is going to have to be implemented on.

As for cost, I would say the best fix would have one come with the expansion itself and any additional ones purchased costing money, much like how WoW handles it's Auto Lvl up mechanic.

[Jandor]

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Whatever they do, I hope they put it off until they can do it right. The story is good and I feel it would get a lot less flak if it was something that could be skipped and done as a side activity.
Charging people to essentially delete a portion of the game just strikes me as probably the worst of many possible options.

Oh! As for phasing, just go with whatever it looks like after unlocks and completions. I can't think of that many instances where it would be a *massive* deal, and from a lore perspective you've already theoretically done it . Technically you're just chatting about it/reliving it/sharing it with a storyteller.