Possible level/story jumps....really?

[Bourne_Endeavor]

Yes you can argue that those are pay for convenience and it isn't pay to win. Why, everything can be really fall in the categories of pay for convenience. I think anything that is exp boost, instant level gain to max level, skip all contents are pay to win. If you go to any Free to Play game with Cash Shop now their hottest selling items are Exp Boost. But here, it even worst since you don't even have to grind. Boom, instant max level and skipping all contents. I believed anything else like cosmetic, server changed, name changed, fall int he categories of not pay to win. I guess different people have different ways of interpreted what is pay to win.

Keep saying it isn't pay to win is just supporting the cash shop and they will see how far they can really push this. What's next? Instant Anima grind because it is too long?

Except what advantages do these players have? Okay, they're now at 50. They'll be utterly useless unless the learn a proper rotation and they aren't geared for even mid-level content. Sure, it will be quicker for them to get caught up now if they put in the dedication, but none of this gives players a distinct advantage over players like you or I. The Anima weapon isn't anyway comparable because that gives a new player the second best weapon the moment they exit the character creator. Take Black Desert, for example. They have a system wherein you lose EXP if you die. Each world boss has a plethora of OHKO tactics, plus you gain higher credit the more damage dealt. So you have people Leeroy Jerkins themselves, die and what's this... they can buy a revival flask that not only removes the EXP loss, but revives them right on the spot they died instead of in a city where they'd have to backtrack to the boss. That's what I call P2W because the system is purposely designed to tempt you into buying something to gain a direct benefit on other players. And the game itself screws you into it with cheap mechanics. FFXIV doesn't do that, even if a jump potion were added.

Despite years of villify the cash shop, SE hasn't exploited it yet. And no, a jump potion isn't that. In vertical progression, you will inevitably reach a point where the task of catching up becomes far too daunting for newer players, especially through who only care about playing with friends. Now I don't necessarily like this, but provided SE includes ways of forcing these players to learn, I don't particularly care either. People want to throw $40-50 on what amounts to a story skip and little else? Meh. Doesn't hurt me.