Skipping MSQ

[Jandor]

Subs are generally a static source of income. If you want new features or more resources spent on the game or overhauls like the EU servers or the server upgrades we are getting their expense needs to be justified to the investors. The Cash shop allows that. If we want more from SE, they will need more revenue to justify it. After all its not like not upgrading the servers or hiring new staff would negatively effect profits that much. All that Sub money you mention is already been taken into account. Unless FF14 sees a massive growth in subs it's unlikely you would see substantially more money being reinvested into the game otherwise.

So long as we're on the same page that it's fundamentally nothing but SE and shareholders milking us for more money then I'm happy.

The problem with a new game+ system they already said is due to how the Quest system is structured. Even things like Airships wouldn't be accessable till you re-unlocked them. You would loose all your progress. That is a system issue and unless they overhaul that system it is likely problematic to do.

Take the 2.0 and 3.0 MSQ's, copy and paste into 2 new questlines that are unlocked from the Wandering Minstrel, same dialogue, same cut scenes, technically "different" quests. It seems pretty easy to me, maybe it just didn't spring to mind when Yoshi was asked?

As for why they wouldn't offer this for free, it's simple. It's to limit access for RMT and botters to later points in the game.

They'd still have to pay for the expansions. It isn't like a skip potion is going to be any better from a user point of view, they're RMT, they can afford it. If it's introduced we'll get botters at later points in the game.

I would also ask, how does someone else skipping that game experience negatively impact you? Did you find playing that content a bad thing? I can find the only real issue is their potential performance endgame and that can be mitigated with Tutorial systems. Otherwise there isn't much logic to your argument.

It doesn't negatively impact me, at the moment, but it's where you draw the line. As I said in the other jump potion thread, at the end of the day their is very little fundamental different between experience points, tomestones and the relic weapon, they're all time sinks. No matter how bad you are at the game so long as you're prepared to grind you can have everything I mentioned. Selling experience points opens the door to selling tomestones, or "progression gear" or "relic accelerators", selling jump potions is the definite end of the 'cosmetics only' cash shop.

I made this thread because I do have some sympathy for the new guy, I can see how signing up to play with your friends and being gated by 300 quests might seem insurmountable at first. I think it could maybe even be good for the new players to start with Stormblood, get invested in the game, and then see the original story line at a later date when they want to do it to level up their characters 2nd or 3rd job.
But, this game is like 90% time sinks, I think if we start selling ways round them on the mogstation we set a very risky precedent.

Edit: I must also add, that although it doesn't affect me at the moment, depending on the final price leveling potions could potentially do a lot of harm to leveling roulette. I think their are long term problems with level boosters that could seriously harm the game, that would effect me.

[Lambdafish]

So long as we're on the same page that it's fundamentally nothing but SE and shareholders milking us for more money then I'm happy.

Someone has never seen the adult world of business and investment. We aren't being extorted because they aren't withholding content. The closest thing on the cash shop that even comes close is eternal bonding, which has a free version without the fluff. Nothing in the cash shop contributes to gameplay in any way.


My personal view on jump potions is that they are fine but are seriously being considered prematurely. "But WoW has a levelling potion" people say... Yes, a levelling potion that was introduced in their fifth expansion to get a level 90 character. WoW was an 10 year old game at that point (we can treat XIV as a brand new game starting from ARR, as 1.0 can no longer be accessed). And they should definitely be paid for as a service not unlike server transfers and fantasias.

[Felis]

Subs are generally a static source of income. If you want new features or more resources spent on the game or overhauls like the EU servers or the server upgrades we are getting their expense needs to be justified to the investors.

No investors, only shareholders. And they are not interested in the income of a single project, only in the total income of SE.

[SenorPatty]

So if the budget increase isn't due to cash shop sales, where did the money come from? Did it come from their asses?

Oh I don't know...maybe from basically SE's overall revenue from virtually every other game/merchandise they sell, which then gets re-allocated to whatever team needs it?

Just a wild guess o.O

[Felis]

Oh I don't know...maybe from basically SE's overall revenue from virtually every other game/merchandise they sell, which then gets re-allocated to whatever team needs it?

Just a wild guess o.O

So it come still from cash shop (because it is part of the overall income of SE)

[LineageRazor]

I know the white knighting is strong in those forums (because you can't post if you didn't log into the game for 15 days) but I can assure you FFXIV isn't doing that well in the west (maybe things are different in japan).

Cynical black knighting with little or no hard evidence to support your claims is hardly more admirable.

So, if you laugh at the thought that SE invests cash shop money back into the game, but admit that they ARE putting additional money into the game but don't know for sure where it came from... Just what makes you so sure none of that money comes from the cash shop?

More likely, I think, that the profits from ALL SE's sources - cash shop, other games, what have you - gets pooled, and then distributed where it is needed. Cash shop may not funnel directly back into the game, but by increasing SE's overall revenue you can bet that it helps, nonetheless.

[Daranion]

Actually yes I WOULD like proof of this 3x the budget claim. I too fell for this story once, but noone has ever proven anything. The only budget related information I can find is "We're reinvesting money into the servers for the first time. This is a monumental event yadda yadda"

[SenorPatty]

So it come still from cash shop (because it is part of the overall income of SE)

True but Violyre's post implied that stormblood's budget came strictly from cash shop.

Which if it actually did, I'd be amazed. Like, meme-level amazed.

[Khubla_Kha]

Snip

Why would any company seeking profit do this? The potions are obviously the better option in SE's eyes as it is additional cash on top of the people already having to pay for the game + expansions. No company is going to make this choice over the alternative they have already put in motion. Regardless of people's opinion on the matter SE is not going to choose to give away free what they've already decided they will charge for.

These potions are only going to positively effect their bottom line no matter how much pissing and moaning goes on here at the forums.

[LineageRazor]

Why would any company seeking profit do this? The potions are obviously the better option in SE's eyes as it is additional cash on top of the people already having to pay for the game + expansions. No company is going to make this choice over the alternative they have already put in motion. Regardless of people's opinion on the matter SE is not going to choose to give away free what they've already decided they will charge for.

These potions are only going to positively effect their bottom line no matter how much pissing and moaning goes on here at the forums.

The bottom line is about more than just cash grabs. SE is in this for long-term profits, and for that they know that they need customer loyalty. You can bet that any item they put into the cash shop, INCLUDING skip potions, SE will carefully weigh just how much they can afford to annoy their playerbase. Ideally, sure, they'd love to nickel and dime us at every turn like a freemium game, but they know very well that such behavior would turn players away in droves, resulting in long-term profits that are MUCH lower than they would be if they kept that impulse at bay. As such, they're careful about what they put into the cash shop.

That said, I would be not be surprised to see skip potions available for free (at least, the first; additional skip potions to level other jobs might incur a charge), as a way to attract players to the game who might otherwise be turned off by the long main scenario grind to catch up to Stormblood. While SE has promised that some Stormblood content will be accessible without being caught up on the main scenario, you can bet that anything endgame will require it. For players who want to join FFXIV to participate in difficult endgame content but aren't interested in the story of the game, it could be just what the doctor ordered.

My biggest fear is that players who WANT to experience the story will feel pressured by other players to skip ahead. "What, you're level twelve? What are you bothering with all that crap for? Just skip, the story sucks anyway. Endgame is where the real fun is!" Only to discover once they get there that Endgame wasn't the paradise they'd been told. With no endgame, and no story, all that's left is grinding tomestones for gear in dungeons where the player has no idea why they're even in the dungeon. It's hard to imagine a player sticking around long under those conditions.

I hope that the potion comes with a pretty explicit warning that by using it, the player will be permanently lose the ability to read the whole story from the beginning, so no player is caught by surprise.