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

[Naunet]

I think a lot of you lack perspective because you guys have been playing this game, consistently, throughout patches/etc; you haven't had the opportunity to be overwhelmed by what may be a thousand or so consecutive story quests in order to unlock level 60 content.

No, I've definitely had that experience. I quit at the start of second Coil and came back only recently, starting over with a fresh set of characters. I've felt the slog through ARR keenly, especially as what really drew me back was Astrologian.

What I recognize, however, is that a story skip potion is a short-sighted easy way out that will not actually solve the problem.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

Heres the thing though, it's all about context. The jump potions are being proposed as a fix to a problem caused by the MSQ. People are against it, not on principle, but because it is a terrible solution to that problem (because the problem doesn't get fixed and will manifest - see some of the many paragraphs over the last few pages that I have wrote). Right now, if the problem were fixed correctly, there would be no need for a jump potion, as players would be able to get through it at a reasonable pace, or just straight up not have to do it all to access the content (not likely for current content, but a necessity for future content, there are other solutions for current content). When, and only when, the content becomes substantial enough (base game and one expansion is not substantial enough) to facilitate the need for jump potions, I guarantee there will be less resistance.

Bottom line is that the need for jump potions is caused by dev error, and not by natural content bloat, and that is not an ok reason to add the jump potion.

And the immediately rebuttal many have made-- myself quite adamantly -- is cost. What you're proposing will not come cheap, especially with the apparent need to overhaul the entire questing infrastructure per the devs themselves. The result of such a restructuring means less new content in Stormblood due to resources being allotted to all these adjustments. For simplicity's sake, say it cost $10 million. We know the budget for Stormblood is approximated at $36 million. That's a pretty sizable loss. Yes, it's a pure guest-imate figure, but there will being a cost is inevitable. Given the frequent complaints how little there is to do beyond Savage once you've reached endgame. It's not hard to argue the budgets need to focus on improving content we all get to experience.

I, for once, couldn't care less about ARR nowadays. I've experienced it, completed it and even enjoyed it, save for certain quests. If they go back and change things, it only means they're addressing content I'll never even get to see unless I level another alt. If that leads to less dungeons, less raids or the continual stagnation Heavensward's suffered, it isn't going to keep my interest in the game as a whole. Something else to keep in mind. We do not yet know if this potion will be bundled with Stormblood. When Legion released, anyone who purchased it was gifted a free skip potion. If FFXIV follows suit, then it isn't even a cost issue anymore.

[Lambdafish]

Neither. Even with the level cap at 110 you can level 1-110 in a week of playtime (considerably less if you are RAF/have friends helping) and people still buy the character boosts. Even if the FF MSQ was cut in half (or even one quarter) there would *STILL* be a market for the jump potion. There is a section of MMO players that do not want to level period.

Perfect, this is the answer that I wanted clarity on. Here is the major difference between XIV jump potion, and WoW jump potion. WoW potion gives you choice due to lack of content gating, and is simply there because there is a lot of content to get through (plus double the levels since base game). XIV wants a jump potion through poor dev decisions and lots of content gating. What this means is that WoWs jump potion will never be mandatory, however it will quickly become the case that the XIV one will be mandatory because the barrier of entry will become to high (which you have said is not the case with WoW).

they know there is a market for people who want to get to their latest content quick.

Which is an arguement that has been acknowledged as a pro (yes, I'm not ignoring the benefits to a jump potion), but does not acknowledge the problems that come with implementing the game in it's current state. As I said, read what people are saying, and understand the impact of having a jump potion in XIVs current progression model.

What you're proposing will not come cheap, especially with the apparent need to overhaul the entire questing infrastructure per the devs themselves.

Which fixes are you referring to? You can't just said "it will be expensive" without giving context. The solutions that I give are not actually all that different from a jump potion, and involve isolated quest chains that can be skipped (using the same technology as the jump potion), and providing a more streamlined experience for free by allowing players the option to skip over patch content and irrelevant questlines. By your logic, having the jump potion that is currently exclusive to china/korea seems like a huge undertaking that cost a lot of resources and hindered HW.

[Naunet]

For simplicity's sake, say it cost $10 million.

You'd probably do better to not make up numbers out of thin air.

[Aramina]

Perfect, this is the answer that I wanted clarity on. Here is the major difference between XIV jump potion, and WoW jump potion. WoW potion gives you choice due to lack of content gating, and is simply there because there is a lot of content to get through (plus double the levels since base game). XIV wants a jump potion through poor dev decisions and lots of content gating. What this means is that WoWs jump potion will never be mandatory, however it will quickly become the case that the XIV one will be mandatory because the barrier of entry will become to high (which you have said is not the case with WoW).

Yes, and no. Yes without the gating it would be less of an issue, but the flipside of that is people who *do* enjoy the cohesion of the story from beginning to end may be turned off by not having things linked together. Yes, the quests could/would still be there but what comes after could not fully connect to what came before because of the possibility that people had not seen what came before thus making what comes after make no sense if it is referenced. There are reasons I left WoW for FF and the story is a very large part of that. That is why I feel the jump potions are the better idea. People who don't care about the story don't have to worry about it but people like me who do can enjoy it in its full glory.

[Velhart]

Which is an arguement that has been acknowledged as a pro (yes, I'm not ignoring the benefits to a jump potion), but does not acknowledge the problems that come with implementing the game in it's current state. As I said, read what people are saying, and understand the impact of having a jump potion in XIVs current progression model.

We have read yours. I don't believe you are reading ours. It does not affect you in any way. What other people decide to do with their time and money does not affect at all how you play the game. That is the bottom line of this potion discussion no matter how much you try to argue against it or offer solutions within the game itself. Are jump potions technically needed? No. Are they convenient and easy money on the developer's side that affects no one but the buyer themselves? Yes.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

Which fixes are you referring to? You can't just said "it will be expensive" without giving context. The solutions that I give are not actually all that different from a jump potion, and involve isolated quest chains that can be skipped (using the same technology as the jump potion), and providing a more streamlined experience for free by allowing players the option to skip over patch content and irrelevant questlines. By your logic, jump potion exclusive to china/korea seems like a huge undertaking.

The devs have expressly stated their questing system doesn't allow for you to skip small bits of content. It's an all or nothing dichotomy. The example they even gave is job quests. If you wanted to re-experience the Pugilist storyline, you'd have to redo all of the Monk chain due to how their flagging system works. The jump potion differs because it flags everything as completed in the proper order. What you're asking is they essentially break apart say, 2.1-2.55 and jump straight ahead to Ishgard the moment you finish The Praetorium. Others have suggested adding a new quest wholesale that lets you skip to certain parts. Coding doesn't work like that. By adding new elements, you risk breaking the entire system because it wasn't originally designed to operate that way. None of this even factors is any story condensing requires new animations and scripts to retain narrative coherency.

Basically, you're asking they rip out parts of the game and Frankenstein everything back together. Doing so means extensive play testing and resource strain. That is where the cost comes in. Any and all manpower dedicated to these endeavours mean it isn't be directed towards new content for Stormblood.

You'd probably do better to not make up numbers out of thin air.

I specifically said it was a hypothetical. If this were something they could do cheap, it would have happened already. Will it be 10 million? Who knows? But it will cost money, which means less content for Stormblood. You can't have both.

[Zojha]

Yes, the quests could/would still be there but what comes after could not fully connect to what came before because of the possibility that people had not seen what came before thus making what comes after make no sense if it is referenced.

Uhm...I don't think that's what people want changed there. Ideally, the MSQ would remain entirely intact, but the content it unlocks in the process could be unlocked independently of the MSQ. So if you see the entry of Toto-Rak, you could walk up to the wailer and say:"Hey, what's dis?" and get it unlocked regardless of the state of the MSQ, while the MSQ would still send you there at the same time it does before, with MSQ quests still being one long chain. Same for chocobo rides and whatnot.

Kind of like you can unlock Dzemael Darkhold either via the Fort of Fear quest or the Grand Company quest.

[Naunet]

I specifically said it was a hypothetical. If this were something they could do cheap, it would have happened already. Will it be 10 million? Who knows? But it will cost money, which means less content for Stormblood. You can't have both.

Hypothetical, and yet you were trying to use it to support a claim that actually fixing the problem that SE created (and wants to charge us extra money to get around) would be some unbearable financial burden on them. Don't make an argument that you can't back up with actual facts.

Uhm...I don't think that's what people want changed there. Ideally, the MSQ would remain entirely intact, but the content it unlocks in the process could be unlocked independently of the MSQ. So if you see the entry of Toto-Rak, you could walk up to the wailer and say:"Hey, what's dis?" and get it unlocked regardless of the state of the MSQ, while the MSQ would still send you there at the same time it does before, with MSQ quests still being one long chain. Same for chocobo rides and whatnot.

Kind of like you can unlock Dzemael Darkhold either via the Fort of Fear quest or the Grand Company quest.

Yes, this, precisely.

[Lambdafish]

It does not affect you in any way.

I never said this was about me, this is about the future of the game, the game that I care about and want to have a long and healthy life. No, the jump potion in SB won't affect me, but in say... 5.0 and beyond, when players have to beat 2.x, 3.x and 4.x in order reach 5.x etc. I can guarantee that everyone will feel the repercussions when nobody understands the narrative (we are in Garlemauld, whats garlemauld?), and will have to deal with a levelling process akin to level 10 in terms of teaching new players (except much worse because they are dealing with endgame skills). What this will lead to for me is a dumbed down levelling process (no more vault/gubal level dungeons), and a lot more segregation in the community (because no way is the community going to be helpful in the expansion levelling, expect a lot of jump potion users being kicked for asking what regen is).

I acknowledge that some people want to get to endgame to raid, but these players will become more in the minority as it becomes increasingly apparent that jump potion is mandatory, at which point we have to deal with players who didn't particularly want to skip in the first place.

snip

So as a TL;DR to our debate:

- The jump potion doesn't fix a problem that needs to be fixed
- My proposed fixes are too expensive (despite no actual facts)

So what IS the solution? apparently neither of our solutions are viable. So what is worse? Spending money to fix content to futureproof the game and allow it to flourish for years to come? Or release a flimsy, short term fix that will ultimately hinder the game in years to come?

I would actually be OK with this problem being fixed at the cost of less of an inventory space increase. (if it even came to it being that expensive, which I doubt)

Uhm...I don't think that's what people want changed there. Ideally, the MSQ would remain entirely intact, but the content it unlocks in the process could be unlocked independently of the MSQ. So if you see the entry of Toto-Rak, you could walk up to the wailer and say:"Hey, what's dis?" and get it unlocked regardless of the state of the MSQ, while the MSQ would still send you there at the same time it does before, with MSQ quests still being one long chain. Same for chocobo rides and whatnot.

Kind of like you can unlock Dzemael Darkhold either via the Fort of Fear quest or the Grand Company quest.

This seems like a best case scenario, but isn't even what is needed to fix the problems. There needs to be a point of least resistance within the MSQ itself, something that allows players to experience only what they need to, while still being given the narrative and world building context, and experiencing the levelling process (as fast as that will be come 4.0)




Also, because nobody is talking about it, I want to reiterate that the levelling potion is still a terrible idea. At worst, give us the ability to level one job, please do not allow us to level multiple jobs with our wallets. (Also... would an ACN jump potion cost double?)