I came from FFXI and WoW, we all know in FFXI food was essential, the buff was massive 15-25%. Even in WoW which Yoshi emulated, food was essential for high level dungeons and raids, and also desired while soloing leveling etc. Potions were mandatory in WoW in any endgame content, even including normal dungeons and pvp.

It feels like FF14 really tried hard to gimp consumables as much as possible. 5-8% buff, really? 500MP for the top end potion on a long cooldown? That's not even 20% MP.. not that most classes have issue with MP at all, especially with a BRD. Some of the most important potion, like Echo Drops are dirt cheap from NPCs.