I know it's been talked about, but seriously. No Jump Potions, here is why.

[Gemina]

Enjoying the game doesn't mean a person has to enjoy every aspect of the game. You know that, so I'm not even sure why you'd use that as an argument.

It's how I was feeling at the time. This has changed.

[MilesSaintboroguh]

It's how I was feeling at the time. This has changed.

How or why did it change? What made you go from "People can play how they want" to "there's only one way to enjoy the game fully"?

[RaijinSupreme]

The story is part of the game. If you don't want to experience that, then perhaps you don't want to play the game.

This is why I called you narrow-minded. You'd have to be narrow-minded if you truly believe there's only one right way to play this game. You would actually suggest that people shouldn't even play this game if they didn't want the story, yet you want this game to have more subscribers?

That is absolutely counter-productive, and the reason why this game WILL die if people aren't soon given the choice as to how they want to experience the game for themselves.

[Gemina]

How or why did it change? What made you go from "People can play how they want" to "there's only one way to enjoy the game fully"?

I never felt like a player can't play how they want to, or said there is only one way to enjoy the game fully. What changed was how adamant I was being about players partaking in the story because FF is SO much about that. I still believe that older content should be traversed. Maybe not ARR, but at least HW. It's not just the story, some of these instances and boss encounters are absolutely amazing as well, and will provide the new players with the battle experience they need. I understand that they will still be available for those who want to do them. I just hope enough players will want to.

[MilesSaintboroguh]

Are you saying you want them to enjoy that first time feeling like you had when it comes to certain boss fights? I also slightly disagree with said fights giving players experience because we still get a lot of people in current content who still do rookie mistakes such as standing in the stupid or not stacking when you're supposed to.

[LadyKairi]

Now I get your point of view OP. I somewhat share it too, but I have been putting all sorts of thought into this. While we think about our time invested and how great it\\'s felt, we veterans have been playing for quite some time. Those of use who have been playing since ARR (or earlier), we have had the bonus of going through all the patches and expansion as they were released. Now think of the new players. They have to go through ARR story and HW story. While we get to jump right into SB since we have been playing and keeping up, the newbies have to do everything else first before even starting SB. So when we think about that, new players may not even be able to play SB until well after its release (depending on how often they play/for how long).

While I don't like the thought of people skipping the story (because I think it's amazing), I have come to accept that not everyone cares about it. While it is a big part of the game, not everyone wants to watch it and DO skip it.

[LadyKairi]

I do not really agree with jump potions, but thats only because I\\'m just worried about my own experience while leveling (ptsd from my wow days). But I do see why Yoshi is wanting to add them. While we love going through all the levels and story quests, it can turn new people from the game, especially after more patches and expansions come out. From a business perspective, XIV needs the potions no matter how much you, me or anyone don\\'t like them.

[Gemina]

Ok so you're worried about people simply skipping too much. I get and understand that. It's still the player's choice if they want to skip it all or play normally and if the potions are going to be as pricey as Yoshida claims, it'll deter people who will skip on a whim. Quality of players could be an issue, yet we still get people who don't know the basics or refuse to adapt, even though we have a novice hall dedicated to teaching said basics. Outside of cheating and trolling people, there really isn't a "right" way to play this game. The skip potions are not infringing on other players who want to experience the story firsthand.

Perhaps. I wonder how difficult it will be for those to get queues who want to experience the story now that up to 3.55 can be skipped.

Times change and people change with it. If fans had their way, Final Fantasy would never evolve past Final Fantasy 7

I don't believe that. I've adapted. Other FF loyalists would as well.

I truly don't believe that the image and story of the game is going to get affected by this.

I hope you're right.

[Gemina]

Are you saying you want them to enjoy that first time feeling like you had when it comes to certain boss fights? I also slightly disagree with said fights giving players experience because we still get a lot of people in current content who still do rookie mistakes such as standing in the stupid or not stacking when you're supposed to.

Of course I want new players get those same rushes and feelings of accomplishment that I felt from tackling new instances and bosses. I'm not sure why anyone wouldn't want that for new players. But it is more about ascertaining the battle experience why I feel they should go through it. Rookie mistakes are fine, and I still make mistakes myself. We all have to learn, and I know we have plenty who seem incapable of it. However, I feel that because this does exist, it is all the more reason for at least a little more restriction when it comes to these potions. It's one thing as of right now coming into a 50+ dungeon and derping all over the place. These players SHOULD know what they are doing by this point even if they don't. With the potions, that should goes away.

[Lambdafish]

I've said it in the main thread, but I might as well say it here too: my biggest issue is the split in the player base. There will be players who have done the whole levelling experience, and players who have only experienced stormblood. When it comes to designing narrative, who do you appeal to? Who is right and who is wrong? What happens if jump potion players (in overwhelming numbers) complain about their narrative making no sense post 60? How will the devs manage two audiences that they have allowed to have two very different experiences with very different needs?

Oh, and as with any divide in this playerbase (and life in general), this will definately result in abuse, toxicity and segregation within the community. we are seeing it already.

Edit: premptive rebuttal: jump potion works in WoW and other games because a lot of its content is self contained and can be done in any order. XIV is linear like no mmo I have seen before, and the story is very interconnecting, to the point where extra dialogue was put into the MSQ if you had beaten coil or job quests. Removing all of that context and starting players at 3.55 part 2 (imagine all the world context that we know, and all the impact that it will have in stormblood) and them knowing as much as we knew back at level 1 is an experience that I can't even imagine, and would be like opening a book on a random page and beginning to read.