Lets talk about Micro transactions

[Delily]

The reality is that microtransactions have always been a slippery slope. Even if you're okay with the current state of microtransactions in FFXIV, endorsing them encourages SE to slide further down that slope, until it becomes a sheer vertical drop.

Stop with the hyperbole, both Square and Blizzard have been very good about making sure only optional items are in the store.

To further expand on this, some people may consider the additional retainers and the retainer jump potions pay to win, but that's only if you consider having a lot of gil as winning. That would be valid if you could use gil to buy the best gear for either PvE or PvP, which is not the case. As the top tier gear is always locked out from advanced melding, you can't pay someone to overmeld it, and even more, you don't need gil to buy material.

Gil has a lot of side benefits, like housing and glamour, but so long as the only way to get the best gear for PvE and PvP is to actually participate, they're fine.

Back to the original question, the jump potions are godly if you hire new retainers or if you switch a retainer's job, because leveling retainers is an exercise in tediousness. Having a lot of retainers is good if you're crafting or trying to make a lot of gil, but for most players, the 2 you get for free with more than enough to bring in gil with good venture management.