Naoki Yoshida's Comment in Regard to Jump Potions/Boost Potions

[Seig345]

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Them again, you could still say yes, it's optional, they can endure through it or not, and I agree. But that would also make everything else optional, including endgame.

Just because they add an item that makes what you want to do in a game easier/faster does not make it some kind of a mandatory purchase. Since it is entirely possible to pass on the jump potions (once they're added), and accomplish the same ends by a different set of means, it's an option by definition. You can subjectively refuse to see the slower method as an option, but that applies to you, not to the player base as a whole. You're by no means forced to slog through the slow way if you don't want to pay for the shortcut, since playing Final Fantasy XIV at all is also an option in and of itself. Not playing at all may sound extreme, but it also seems a little extreme to see $50 to skip several years worth of content, legitimately, as prohibitive.