Quote Originally Posted by Vhailor View Post
I don't think it's as trivial as you make it out to be, for a variety of reasons.

(1) Most people won't skip everything and purely focus on MSQ and dungeon unlocks. Not to say they can't, but most won't. Forcing players into a choice between taking reasonable amounts of time and stopping to smell the roses even a little bit isn't appropriate.

(2) Most people returning from lengthy breaks aren't as familiar with the process as you are. That's going to add time.

(3) Even by your (exceedingly conservative) estimate, you're still talking (4.5 hours/day on average) * (14 days) = 63 hours. Many people can't devote 4.5 hours per day to the game, though; if they're playing, say, 10 hours a week, it's over a month and a half JUST to get through the Heavensward story and gear up to i230 / i260. That's ridiculous.

In short, your tossed-off 2 week figure is relevant for people who know exactly what they're doing, aren't spending idle time on other tasks, and have significant amounts of time to devote to FFXIV. If all gamers fell into this category, I'd agree that the storyline setup is rather appropriate. Given this isn't the reality, though, I think jumping potions are needed at this point for SE to combat the grind.
I based it on the OP's question/suggestion. I don't think that his returning friends are not even falling in the non casual category, that would be the category you're trying to explain here, because if that would be the case the OP probably wouldn't be worried about his/her friends returning and trying to be ready for the expansion, if they would just play 10 hours a week. As well as he/she mentioned returning, meaning that they will know what they are doing, or the OP knows how the game works and can lead his/her friends in the right direction. I wasn't talking about players that just started for the first time and I was also not telling these kind of people that they should be skipping everything.

But to go with your example, even it it then would take a month, that's faster then we have done it. There was no exp bonus and such things, and it actually was a grind compared to today's leveling. And while I mentioned that I am not against the potion (if you would have not quoted half of the sentence), it's still not necessary or as high priority as you are trying to make it sound like. IF his/her friends would return now, they be not only geared, but having multiple characters till stormblood and wouldn't have to hope that this potion gets released way later down the line, if even at all.