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

[Adire]

Well heres my experience from that...I have ayed in Korea and have tried convincing my friends to play with me in Korea with the lvling potion...Their responses were
1- This game is too easy its boring.
2- Nothing to do in this game
3- I really never got attached to my character
4- Maybe ill stay?
For those you answered with maybe, I had to beg on my knees and tempt them with 1 million gills + dinner treats to stay...
Pitty most of them left too...
So those few that stayed moved over to aether with me.
Just a fyi, 90% of the people that stay disregards the potion...

A few of your friends is a pretty small sample size to stretch into 90% of the staying player population. Just saying.

Jump potions will just make things worse. Now that I've leveled all my combat classes to 60, my interest in the game is at an all time low. I'm guessing people who skip through such a huge part of the game will burn out at a much faster rate since leveling is essentially as much a part of the journey in an MMO as anything else is, if not more so.

As much as people have negative feelings towards the word grind, it's the grind that keeps a huge chunk of people playing. And the level grind in this game isn't even bad now. The story quest grind is thanks to all the irrelevant filler content in between important events, but as I've said in previous posts, that can be solved without expanding the cash shop.

[Derio]

They actually do teach some things. For example the gladiator early mission to use flash teaches players to use flash several times to create aggro and repeat use, otherwise your healer would die, other tank jobs had similar quest where you have to defend other NPCs by generating aggro which is in itself the pure basics of tanking. I know the WHM and 1 or 2 Scholar quest do the same.

The point being they give you the simplistic basics of the class and you use the inbetween levels to hone your skills. Most of the job instructors tell you to come back once you have honed your skills for the next quest. Average to great players do so by reading the skills, looking at guides, or other means. The not so great players dont.

But very rarely do I encounter not so great players so from my player point of view the job quest are teaching something.

[Felis]

None of the class and job quests I've done taught ANY of those things. Are we playing different games here? The quests all amounted to "kill monster X". The closest we ever had to a quest teaching something was AST 30.

Do PGL class quest. I think it was the lv5 quest that teach you how combos work.
"go out and hit some training dummies with that 2 skill combo you have already learned"

[RaizeGraymalkin]

Do PGL class quest. I think it was the lv5 quest that teach you how combos work.
"go out and hit some training dummies with that 2 skill combo you have already learned"

They need something like Hall of Novices, but better. They need something that really drills into your brain positionals, DOTS, openers, rotations, aggro, cooldowns, weaving, etc. There's so much to learn and the game does a piss poor job of explaining it. At the end of the day the players that want to learn will go outside the game to find guides and videos. Those resources should be included within the game somehow.

[Yokosho]

When are we going to get some ingeyorhm style ascian gear for glamour purposes?

[Naunet]

They need something like Hall of Novices, but better. They need something that really drills into your brain positionals, DOTS, openers, rotations, aggro, cooldowns, weaving, etc. There's so much to learn and the game does a piss poor job of explaining it. At the end of the day the players that want to learn will go outside the game to find guides and videos. Those resources should be included within the game somehow.

I'm honestly baffled as to why players feel like this much hand-holding is needed. In every MMO I've played, leveling dungeons are supposed to be your training ground for learning your class with regard to group content. No, we do not need quests or halls to teach someone about what a DoT is or whatever.

Of course, if FFXIV's dungeons weren't so brain dead easy (yes, that includes Heavensward), this wouldn't be so much of an issue... Honestly, if SE wants to look at examples of well-done "training" instances, they should take a look at Protogames Academy in WildStar. It is hands down the best "how to do well in combat in this game" dungeon I've ever encountered. And it's fun!

[Bourne_Endeavor]

This is a cash grab by Square that will in no way add anything more than temporary subscribers and diluted content to a game that the Western player base has already demanded allow nothing for real money purchase outside of glamour gear and optional mounts. Pay to win is not welcomed here like it is in China and Korea.

But I'm still going to voice my opposition to it loud and clear. Do not allow instant leveling or story jump potions, Square!

First and foremost, it is not pay to win as that inherently implies people needs win something. Themepark MMOs whose progression content is entirely based on grinding endgame gear cannot be pay to win by simply selling levels. I could hand over my account-- full BiS-- and not only would whoever took it have no clue how to play Dragoon, the gear I have will be completely obsolete the following raid tier. Pay to win would necessitate being able to purchase current endgame gear or some sort of power boost that provided an advantage otherwise unobtainable through reasonable play. Considering the jump potion won't even skip players to max level, it offers them nothing except a story skip.

And this segues into my follow up point. FFXIV cannot garner new players with its current linear progression structure. Blame Western impatience all you fancy but people aren't going to play through four years worth of content to unlock the relevant stuff. This issue is only magnified further on smaller servers-- where old city hubs are literal ghost towns. People generally expect to see a community when they jump into an MMO. Another factor is XIV is at its worst during the leveling process. Time and again many of us insist the game improves tremendously at max level. A good number of players will simply lose interest due to the sheer amount of grinding required or not bother to begin with. They will, instead, opt for newer games which open their content without restrictions. None of this touches on the fact some people simply do not care for story. They skip every bit of dialogue; every cut-scene, and only care about gameplay.

Finally, this will not dilute the player base anymore than we currently see. People who have no vested interest to learn will never bother. No amount of obstacles thrown their way will get them to play the game properly. They simply don't care. On the other hand, people who do will seek out ways to improve of their own volition. A jump potion isn't going to separate this. Duty Finder is littered with people who pull pitifully low DPS or pull with Provoke. Will some bad players pay to level? Sure. And they will inevitably get bored, claim the game sucks and quit. Who cares? Most are not going to spend upwards of $200 on a game they may not even like.

[Jandor]

First and foremost, it is not pay to win as that inherently implies people needs win something. Themepark MMOs whose progression content is entirely based on grinding endgame gear cannot be pay to win by simply selling levels.

The whole progression is linear, you increase in levels and when that's capped you can start increasing in ilvls until that is capped. It's significant progress along that straight line of progression being sold for real life money.

[Yeol]

Buying time is not pay to win. Not in an MMO. However, buying gear/weapons with real money that makes you stronger than those who didn't IS pay to win.
Adding this feature now will make the community accept it more, even though it is not really needed now. But it will be needed for when we reach 5.0 or 6.0

[Zojha]

However, buying gear/weapons with real money that makes you stronger than those who didn't IS pay to win.

Or is it? Considering that gear in vertical progression regularly gets outdated, buying a weapon/gear that's stronger than what currently is available would only buy you the time until equal or better gear comes out. And according to people, buying time isn't pay to win. So this naturally couldn't be pay to win either.