Possible level/story jumps....really?

[Bourne_Endeavor]

That a fact? I think they are at least considering it.

"Of course this isn’t so we can make money off players wanting to skip the content"

"Whether or not to actually implement that or offer it as a purchasable option still hasn’t been decided."

http://gamerescape.com/2016/06/17/e3...naoki-yoshida/

Doesn't read like they have decided whether to do it or not, or that they have decided if it should be purchasable if they do. If it's implemented and not purchasable that only really leaves in-game.

See, my interpretation of that is were it implemented, there would be a charge. Not they're considering a free solution. The devs don't actually have a choice here. Square Enix executives decide whether there will be a cost. And if we look at virtually any MMO offering some means of a skip, be it through leveling, gear or whatever. They aren't offering one for free. The quest example you propose later basically makes it a breeze for bots and RMT to reach the expansions. What will likely happen, in my opinion, is Stormblood will come with a free skip potion and any subsequent will be on the Mogstation for $50 USD

A F2P game, a F2P/B2P hybrid, a game over a decade old.

You asked for examples. You can't then say "well, those examples aren't good enough!" FFXIV is currently the only MMO still clinging to the archaic quests unlock everything system, thus you won't get a direct comparison. WoW may be a decade old, but it also utterly dwarfs XIV in popularity. Not to mention, XIV's not exactly subtle with how it borrows ideas from WoW. The whole skip potion conversation stated when Yoshi specifically mentioned WoW doing this precise thing. So chances are, they're moderating how successful it was for them relative to any backlash. Looking at Legion's sales... it worked pretty well.