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

[Hasrat]

My experience is coming from just a few streamers I've seen doing their thing, which is itself probably not the best/most accurate indicator, but isn't that all kind of the norm anyway? New content drops, new players in droves want to try the new content, after a few weeks/months the excitement dies down and subs drop. There's too many games on the market to expect the entire playerbase to remain active and dedicated for the game's life span.

Ultimately, SE is just going to need to find the balance. Have a way for new players to experience new content for that initial hype, but also structure content so that long-term players are still getting plenty of value. The big ask isn't just getting players from 2.0-present (which is daunting itself), but also just expecting players to stick around after they've gotten what they wanted out of the game.

Like I said, maybe I'm not so clear on how MMOs usually run. But it seems like jumps or quick-starts into new content is a bit of a necessary evil, just to keep the game attractive and avoid stagnation. SE wouldn't be doing themselves any favors if all they ever catered to was the existing playerbase.

[Rekujin]

People complaining are only seeing this from 1 perspective... but this has already been tested on WoW and it was a huge success, Yoshi is clearly learning from Blizzard.

You want your friends to come play FFXIV? you're 2 expansions ahead of them? have fun trying to convince them to play alone while they have to grind out 1-50 main story quests + side quests, then wait for long queue times for REQUIRED dungeons because nobody is doing them anymore, then spend hours and hours doing MSQ at 50 whilst also gated by long queue times for msq dungeons/trials at 50+ because nobody does them.

THEN they have to level from 50-60 and do ALL the 60 quests, again they have to sit through long queue times because nobody is doing the story-gated dungeons/trials anymore.

Not only that, the item level requirements to continue HW story is also a pain, a fresh 60 in Heavensward is sitting at roughly 145-150 item level whilst most dungeons and MSQ require at least 175+

Now along comes Stormblood, 10 more levels and even more MSQ.....

I invited 4 friends to come play this game, they were already burnt out and ready to give up before unlocking Heavensward.

This is a HUGE game, skipping story is not a big deal and skipping levels is also not a big deal if it means your friends can play with you asap. The smart thing Yoshi needs to do is add a training-course area like Blizzard have, so fresh boosted characters are required to go through the training course to learn ideal rotations.

[DrCynapsis]

My only concern is the clears for all dungeons. How will players learn their job and group play effectively?

[Leigaon]

My only concern is the clears for all dungeons. How will players learn their job and group play effectively?

You can only force people to learn only but so far until you're basically playing the game for them. Right now we have plenty of ways to learn how to do our job, the only thing lacking is the actual content itself that doesn't put these theories into practice mode. For example, GuildHests are wonderful in letting you learn what you might be up against from levels 10 - 50 dungeon wise. Yet they don't enforce it in the actual content itself or in the dungeons related to it for the most part. For example, a GH named Annoy the Void, it teaches you to click on parts of the environment and to tackle adds (click the blue flames and kill the hounds that spawn) otherwise the boss gets a boost.

Problem is people ignore this and focus on the boss, you get overwhelmed and should be dead. Yet due to the game, you're not. So when I go into the dungeon and I have a hard time because no one is taking care of adds and no one is extinguishing lights.

There's also the initiative that players should have for themselves, and that is it read their abilities, learn from them.

I've had healers not gear up until 38 because the ease of how it is to heal until then. (SCH didn't have erase, and at iLV but was wearing level 5 gear in other places, str / vit..etc..) Last night I had two DPS leave me in the lost city bosses belly, and I died with the boss still having 25% health left. I had a healer when trying to get back into tanking at level 51 dungeon that was throwing medica and regens on me. While this wasn't a major issue all the time it did screw up my placement for packs of mobs that cast at a distance, causing them to be spread out. iLV / mechanics and use of spells & abilities. These are taught through multiple resources, not simply dungeons.

If you use a potion and are a veteran player, you should be able to learn and ask questions. If you're leveling up to catch up to a friend, that friend should help you. If you join a FC, you should ask questions. If all else fails, you ask questions. People are more than willing to let you know what to do.

The entire potion for story, I understand but can't agree. I do not have the same mindset as those who do and go right for end-game. They're basically missing out on something they do not care about, so it's okay. I can't make them care. The leveling ones, I think it's also a way to deal with the giant gaps of vertical progression we have at level 50 and then again at 60..and then again when we hit 70. (it is at these gaps that horizontal progression would help, but the game isn't developed around that.)

Can't comment on other games, I've only played FFXI. Though what I know is that even with what we have now it ends up being the players who determine how well they're going to be, and it is encouraged by the eased up content they run. These potions, are innocent in this situation.

I was concerned about the exact same thing, the Hall is a great place to start, so I originally thought they couldn't use it until they got past GC storyline. That's not the case, so I've come to accept that it isn't as bad as it seems.

[Seig345]

If adding the jump potions is going to kill activity in older content, then maybe it's just a sign that players have moved on from that content. The game allows us to go back to it whenever we want after clearing it, but it's like digging out an old game from 10 years ago, or a book you've already read. You had fun, enjoyed it, have good memories of it, but you'll never quite get the same number of hours of enjoyment out of it again. You already know how it works so there's no more discovery in it.

Throw in the fact that the content relies on multiple players, and then you really see just how many people have moved on. MMOs are not somehow invulnerable to this.

New players lured by the new expansion were apparently not lured by 1.0, arr, or HW, so why force them to go through that content? This is a game, not a job, so the "I had to, so they should have to" doesn't really make sense when applied to the MMO equivalent of digging out the NES.

[Zojha]

You want your friends to come play FFXIV? you're 2 expansions ahead of them? have fun trying to convince them to [...]

My apologies, but the alternative of spending 40 bucks (Based on current exchange rates) doesn't strike my friends as particularly appealing either. The first thing I hear if I bring it up is:"How about a round of LoL/Overwatch instead?"

[Celef]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I heard that on WoW you could see who bought a lvl potion, can we, at least, get a similar function here ?

[RaijinSupreme]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I heard that on WoW you could see who bought a lvl potion, can we, at least, get a similar function here ?

Why? what would be the purpose?

[ReplicaX]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I heard that on WoW you could see who bought a lvl potion, can we, at least, get a similar function here ?

Why would Wow have this? Especially, when they have given boosts in promotions/preorders. I doubt they would like an identifier used to segregate players and open the doors further for harassment cases.

Same for XIV.

[Naunet]

Except they have said several times that with the current system implementation they wouldn't be able to unshackle the MSQ requirements, Lost track of how many times this has been said...

And I've lost track of how many times I've said that I don't care. They need to fix their system.

That's like saying "Oh, we can't fix housing!" when obvious solutions are right in front of them.

My apologies, but the alternative of spending 40 bucks (Based on current exchange rates) doesn't strike my friends as particularly appealing either. The first thing I hear if I bring it up is:"How about a round of LoL/Overwatch instead?"

This, as well. "Please pay for the base game, Heavensward, and Stormblood! Note that both previous editions are still at their original price. Oh and if you don't want to slog through the horribly boring and restrictive MSQ, that'll be another [insert exorbitant amount of money]. *smile*" <- NOT exactly the most appealing marketing campaign.