Possible level/story jumps....really?

[Jandor]

I merely advocate for a "skip to the new and shiny expansion you just paid for" potion. Surely you dont expect newcomers to shelf out 60+ dollars for Stormblood and be happy with the amount of work required to reach the part of the game that appealed to them.

Why does it need to be a potion though? Surely removing all the requirements for the first quest of Heavensward bar being level 50, the requirements for Stormblood except level 60, and adding a warning before you accept those quests that you'll skip everything before would work just as well?

Removes all the MSQ gating, just grind levels and skip ahead.

[Moonlite]

Why does it need to be a potion though? Surely removing all the requirements for the first quest of Heavensward bar being level 50, the requirements for Stormblood except level 60, and adding a warning before you accept those quests that you'll skip everything before would work just as well?

Removes all the MSQ gating, just grind levels and skip ahead.

Because half the complainers on the forums think the MSQ/lore is something sacred. If you aren't embracing it you are missing out on Hamlet or some other timeless classic.

The simple fact is SE needs to make a decision and stop gating everything the way they have. One solution like you suggested take the locks off dungeons increase xp. Other choice skip the xp and dungeons. The poorly thought out gating of content needs to stop.

[Daeriion_Aeradiir]

Why does it need to be a potion though? Surely removing all the requirements for the first quest of Heavensward bar being level 50, the requirements for Stormblood except level 60, and adding a warning before you accept those quests that you'll skip everything before would work just as well?

Removes all the MSQ gating, just grind levels and skip ahead.

While I do think this is an interesting idea, I'm going to play devil's advocate and point out the biggest problem it doesn't solve which is a big convenience the potion brings:

Unless Square MASSIVELY boosts exp gained from 1-50 and 50-60 stuff, people will still have to go through a greater portion of the MSQ just to reach the per-requisite levels for your idea. Or they can zerg the Palace of the dead, which they may not even be interested in, or could very well be dead in Stormblood as all the current players move onto the expansion content.

and subjecting new players to massive fate grinds isn't a great way to entrance players into staying either.

Because in reality, dungeons are heavily gated by the MSQ, that by the time they reach 50/60, the most benefit they'll receive is skipping the patch content. Then what if their favorite job they want to play happens to be DRK/AST/MCH? Bam, they now have to spend even more time getting it back to 50 and up to 60 to reach Stormblood's entry level in your idea. I think for your idea to work as well as conveniently a a jump potion would solve, 1-60 would need to take very little time to achieve. Because lets face it. People who buy the jump potion are interested in one major thing: The newest expansion where the massive majority of players are currently doing. and the longer it takes for them to reach it, the less likely they will be to stick around and provide their monthly sub to Square.

For as much as people like to hate on it, WoW is king when it comes to this accessibility. I could go out and purchase a copy of Legion and be at the same expansion as everyone else, whether I choose to level normally or use the skip, doing the same content the massive majority of the playerbase is also doing with very minimal effort. If Square wants new player retention to be high, it'll either have to make compromises in how it designs its MSQ, or they create a jump potion.

[Naunet]

While I do think this is an interesting idea, I'm going to play devil's advocate and point out the biggest problem it doesn't solve which is a big convenience the potion brings:

The obvious thing if you remove the ARR MSQ gate is to also remove the gate from dungeons. As for having to level drk/ast/mch in such a way... that's exactly our complaint.

Just let us choose what content to do when.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

My perspective is one who enjoys the leveling process. I have no desire to purchase a potion that skips 50 or 60 levels. What I want is a way to access things like the HW jobs without having to level an alt 50 levels (really more like 54, which is what you end up being by the time you're done with the ARR MSQ) on a class I did not want to play first. So I'm annoyed that the level jump potion is likely going to be used by both players and by SE as their excuse for why they won't fix the ARR block.

Anyway, I think we agree in theory. I'm just frustrated.

Unfortunately, that potential fix comes with a cost. Whatever changes they make to ARR means less money for new content in Stormblood. Given the choice, would you really prefer less stuff for us current players because they had to tweak stuff we'll never even see again unless we level an alt? Excuse or not, a skip potion is the best solution for everyone.

Why does it need to be a potion though? Surely removing all the requirements for the first quest of Heavensward bar being level 50, the requirements for Stormblood except level 60, and adding a warning before you accept those quests that you'll skip everything before would work just as well?

Removes all the MSQ gating, just grind levels and skip ahead.

Because the developers have outright said it isn't possible. The current code follows a strictly linear path, where each quest flags unlocks another. Such has been the reason they haven't allowed us to repeat old story quests. Doing so would delete all the progress thereafter. Abruptly changing this formula would require a complete overhaul of their infrastructure, none of which comes cheap.

From a business perspective. It makes no sense whatsoever to change everything when they could make a massive profit on people who want to skip the story. Likewise, having a quest essentially skip you allows RMTs and bots a fast track into expansion content, whereas the mogstation comes at a hefty price tag they aren't going to pay.

[Naunet]

Unfortunately, that potential fix comes with a cost. Whatever changes they make to ARR means less money for new content in Stormblood. Given the choice, would you really prefer less stuff for us current players because they had to tweak stuff we'll never even see again unless we level an alt? Excuse or not, a skip potion is the best solution for everyone.

I'm fine with that. It would be a massive QoL improvement.

And I don't want to skip 1-60, so a jump potion is not the "best solution for everyone". I just don't want the dang game forcing me through the same bazillion fetch quests and 54 levels worth of xp before I can get to the job I want.

[Lambdafish]

And I don't want to skip 1-60, so a jump potion is not the "best solution for everyone". I just don't want the dang game forcing me through the same bazillion fetch quests and 54 levels worth of xp before I can get to the job I want.

The solutions that they have had before is to not make the same mistakes that were made in 2.0. My belief was that the original plan was to have it so that HW was not required to participate in stormblood. And this can still be the case, give us a summary of the WoD plot and the pre-4.0 stuff and cut out the dragonsong war, and all you need to do is complete 2.x. Guess what, thats no more than any player who joins right now, no jump potion needed.

I really don't understand why the devs cite WoWs jump potion, it was added in warlords of draenor (i.e. WoWs 5th expansion), where the player had to get through 10 years of story and slog through to level 100. As well as this, WoW is a game that promotes alts, and if people wanted to play new races and classes, they will need to start again, and level jumps help with that. XIV has none of these problems, alts are next to useless, and the game has not gotten to a point where the amount of expansions is overwhelming to a new player. People think level jump potions are ok because "WoW did it", but the two are not even comparable.

I realise that this doesn't have much to do with what you are talking about (i.e. jobs outside of expansion areas), but it still needs to be said

[Enur]

I really don't understand why the devs cite WoWs jump potion, it was added in warlords of draenor (i.e. WoWs 5th expansion), where the player had to get through 10 years of story and slog through to level 100. As well as this, WoW is a game that promotes alts, and if people wanted to play new races and classes, they will need to start again, and level jumps help with that. XIV has none of these problems, alts are next to useless, and the game has not gotten to a point where the amount of expansions is overwhelming to a new player. People think level jump potions are ok because "WoW did it", but the two are not even comparable.

I realise that this doesn't have much to do with what you are talking about (i.e. jobs outside of expansion areas), but it still needs to be said

This game, unlike wow, forces you to do all the main story quests. In wow you could get to warlords of draenor without ever setting foot in outlands or northrend. In ffxiv you have to follow the tedious train tracks untill lvl 60

[Lambdafish]

In ffxiv you have to follow the tedious train tracks untill lvl 60

Which is fine for now. I would much rather have 2.x be a constant requirement for expansion, but never any more. The devs can then work on thinning the 2.x process over time without having to touch expansion areas. And there is your story bloat fixed without any need for a jump potion.

Something of note: did we enter any expansion areas during the 3.4 MSQ? I can't remember us doing so. This might be an indication that come SB, it is possible that people without the HW will be able to do 3.4/3.5 in order to access SB.

[Jatoi]

Here's the logic I approach this with:

The 2.3 quest grind is horrific. It chased off some folks I know. People who are against surpassing them quickly or making them concise because "We had to do it to reach Heavensward!" ought to do what our ancestors did.

Go out into the wilds, make a campfire and have a blast like our ancestors had to. Because hey, although our ancestors did that stuff and it was much harder to do the same thing ( eat, have shelter, ect. ) - the people who have conveniences such as electricity should go without them... right?