Jump Potion...again

[Annah]

ive posted this in the last 7 threads this week but im personally against them.

ive seen people level up entirely in potd...and then have no idea what the hell they're doing...especially with the last boss that requires some resemblance of tactics

so..the idea of "let's make it worse to drink the stuff and ding 60?"

naw

[MistyMew]

Definitely not against jump potions, and really do hope they are added one day

[Neophyte]

How could they if they ding 60 and insta queue to do the end game content ?

1. They can't do endgame content, that's level 70.

2. Who do you think will be a better player soon and be content to hear to advice? A player playing this game all the way to SB over 2 years who I give advice. Or a player just picking that game up and having a bit rough time in their first dungeon (whichever not-endgame dungeon that is and after whatever prerequisites for queuing into group content there are), who I'll give advice?

3. If willingly to learn and having fun: Perfect. Bam, on friendlist. A few weeks and he will be a passable player, who I'll gladly show all the old contents, too. If he wants to.
But sticking with a leaf all the 168h? Way more unlikely and now, with SB coming out and HW counted in in it's more likely 250h, especially in the 2-3 months SB is new and already subbing people are more concerned about the new stuff and neglect level 50/60 roulette (and especially MSQ roulette even more than now) in favor of doing SB MSQ and unlocking new stuff.

[Zojha]

Do you really believe that, if a 'jump potion' becomes a thing there won't be other paid advantages added in the future?

You mean...like paid retainers? Level potions aren't exactly the first step of the slippery slope, they're already the second.

That aside: It's fair game to be concerned about player quality - the thing is just that if you want some means of quality control, all players should equally be subjected to it, not just the people who jump, because the non-jumpers can be bad apples as well and jumpers can also not be bad apples. Instead of generalizing, you should check each player individually.

In other words, you'd need skill checks. Mandatory Stone, Sky, Sea can work well for DPS, but you'd also need something more sophisticated for Healers and Tanks. You'd then get rated based on your performance and get matched in duty finder with players of similar performance - redo the test if you want to improve your rating. A concept that's fairly similar to Elo in PvP games.

And I'd be the first to consider purposely botching up the test to make my queues a little bit less horrible, because I know if I gave it my all, I'd suffer 30+ minute queues for something as simple as expert >_>

[Dragon_Sanders]

No problem you jump the MSQ. Even without the potion, you can skip the cutscene anyhow. The problem is jumping the leveling, which indeed breaks the balance and harms the game.
Somebody has already suggested, a better solution is SE adjust the MSQ into a shorter one. But obviously, SE won' t do it until it is urgently necessary, for this may cost too much.

[Leowilde]

I'm against it. If the cutscene skipping and rushing is bad now, I can imagine it will be even worse then. And FFXIV isn't a single player at all during the early levels. It doesn't have to be coil to count as multiplayer. Early dungeons do serve to help new players get the grip of the workings, rather than jumping straight into endgame content. In any case, what really bothers me is that skippers often come across as very little welcoming to others. Not to group everyone in a box, but that's my impression.

[moleverine]

I'm of two minds on the subject of a jumping potion:

On the one hand, I appreciate this game for its story and I think that it's an important aspect of player retention and creating enfranchised players. On top of that, the MSQ spends a lot of time slowly introducing new players to the various aspects of the game. Taking real world time and "running reps" of certain skills as you go through the game DOES make a difference in how people play. I have a few FC-mates that I play with who leveled alt jobs primarily via Palace of the Dead and it shows in how they play. They've admitted it themselves, even. Thankfully, they also went and took the time to learn how they should be playing in the "real" world.

On the other hand, I have had several experienced MMO players who wanted to play FFXIV (my brother included) who ended up dropping out due to the tedium that is inherent in the 2.0 story. It's a common complaint among new players in my FC. As I'm going through the story again on an alt, I've realized that it's really not THAT good. It's better than most MMO stories, but it's not so crucial that skipping 2.0 would be the end of the world. Anyone skipping would miss out on a lot of lore and world-building, unfortunately.

One of the biggest arguments I've seen against the jump potion is the idea that it will swarm us with new and inexperienced players. I can't argue against this, as that is exactly what would happen. I just don't think it's the end of the world. I'd rather encounter someone who is "bad" because they're new and open to feedback/help, which has been my experience with most new players, than encounter someone who is "bad" and has multiple (or all) 60's and should know better.

Getting an influx of new players isn't going to kill the game. Playing with people who "haven't paid their dues" isn't going to kill this game. What very well *might* kill this game is for it to be come too daunting a task for a new player to come in and be able to play the current content (even though the old stuff is still plenty of fun) in a reasonable amount of time. I don't think we've reached that point, but by the end of 4.0, I feel like we absolutely will have. They'll either need to provide a streamlined experience (which would be a shame for those people who really want to experience the story) or provide a jumping potion and if the player becomes invested in the world, let them go back through the story on an alt or something.

[Steelthunder]

I do not see what the big deal is about adding jump potions. This is a large game that has only gotten larger with content, and will continue to get larger as time goes on with expansions and patches. The MSQ is getting unreasonably long to go through for new players and also veteran players with alts.

As enjoyable as the story is and the cutscenes used to tell it, I think the average person does not enjoy HOW you progress in it. What I mean is having to read or skip a bunch of text and the constant talking, travelling, and teleporting that almost seems endless. Its not so bad when we did it, but you have to remember that by the time Stormblood is released, this game will be almost 4 years old. Thats 4 years of patches and additions that new players are going to be forced through. I am willing to bet that a lot newbies would get bored of it before even getting to the expansion.

A jump potion would also be a welcome addition to veterans who want to make an alt. I do not know about you all, but I have have leveled 2 characters to 60, and perhaps I would like to have a third character, but I am not going to do the MSQ for a third time. I am sorry. That second time I did in on my alt was a chore.

Honestly, I think jump potions are a good idea. Would it create a large high level noob population? Maybe, but this could be countered with making the players go through a tutorial before they are thrown into the game at high level. Something a bit more robust than the ones we have now at level 15 that would teach players rotations. And if you already have a character at 60 or more, you can skip the tutorial. Either way, the pros of jump potions outweigh the cons.

I think some of the opposition to this is upset more because this makes newbies obtain something instantly that they worked hard for. Probably the same kind of crowd that gets upset when old content gets nerfed and made easier for players trying to catch up. If that is the case, you need to get over yourself and not pour so much of your pride in game. Unfortunately, that is the nature of MMOs. They keep getting bigger and bigger, and nerfs and boosts are needed to keep casuals and newbies interested.

If you are still against the idea of jump potions, we can at least agree that something has to be done to make the MSQ and leveling process faster, right?

[Nestama]

The more time I spend on this forums the less I understand the community.
Everytime someone says relics takes too long to do or craft takes too long to lvl (in there opinio) they are called lazy and here, we are basically arguing regarding and insta gratification potion ^^"

You made a hyperbole and thus people argued against you. You assumed a player would automatically be bad at the game, despite having no idea if they would actually take the time to learn how to play the Job (and then you assumed learning the Job would take a long time. It doesn't. Depending on the person, it can take up to a week or so, or just a few days or less. Thanks PotD). There's also the chance that the person using the potion may also be playing on an alt and can not be bothered going through the levelling process again. You then came up with the idea that is pretty much a blacklist target for players who simply assume a jump potion user is bad without even giving them a fair chance.

Don't make assumptions. Some players who skip may be bad, but at the same time, some will take the (in some cases, very short) time to learn how to play the game and Job.

[LunaFaye]

I don't mind a leveling potion. It's not my business of telling people how they like to play. Some people might want to play alts on other servers and don't like to redo their whole character but don't wanna pay the extra money to upgrade to a other account or transfer their main character.

There could be plenty of reasons for it, I don't think that skipping level 1-60 makes much of a difference, sadly to say that most of the content is none relevant and can be undersync'd or fully skipped. Therefore the argument of saying that people need these levels to learn their class or content/mechanics of content is somewhat not important anymore.

I mean SE could make some requirements if others feel better, some could be : have to have at least 1 level 60 character on the account, has completed the main scenario's (whatever we wanna put here) or specific amount of time played. I don't know whatever the requirements could be, at the end a leveling potion is coming, if not with 4.0 than with any other expansion.

Looking at other games, these potions are always available and if it's just for skipping the MSQ after you reached max level. I don't think it's a good or bad thing, both parties have their advantages and I think any player should decide on their own if they like to use a potion or if they don't.