Is a level skip worth it?

[Seddrinth]

Please take the time to read everything before blindly replying with 'It's not good for bad players, most players are bad, you're likely to be a bad player, its not worth it'. I see people do this a lot in other threads I've looked at, and its not helpful if you don't provide relevant reasoning to support your answer.

I've been wanting to play Machinist as it looks like a really fun job to play, and I've been trying to level it up. I've grinded dungeons to get it up to level 51, but the constant 20 min+ DPS queue times have been pretty discouraging, so I've been considering buying a level skip for Machinist, especially considering that its currently on a discounted price.

While I haven't played high level Machinist before, I have a good enough grasp on the game's core mechanics that I've done fine on lv 70 dungeons like Ala Mhigo, and have RDM, AST, and GNB all higher than lv 70. (My account here shows an alt character for some reason, so don't look there for proof XD)

I've seen a lot of people say that getting the skills one at a time makes a big difference in a player's ability to play a job, is that true? I'm not the type of person who would blindly run into multiplayer content with the boosted job before practicing on dummies and watching a guide of two, but is the experience of leveling manually worth the terribly long grind? Should I suck it up and level it up myself or is the potion a viable option?

Don't listen to anyone that tells you leveling is good practice. Almost every job in this game plays differently at level 80 then when you are leveling. You can practice once you hit 80 and that would be far more productive than trying to learn the class as you level. That being said, whether it's worth it to buy a level jump is up to you. If you feel like you are wasting time in low levels and want to skip to higher level, then do it. If you enjoy the grind then keep leveling.

[Edax]

Maybe you have a differing view on what the word 'progression' means to you, but grinding a class/job by doing the same thing over and over is not the only part of an RPG, especially not an MMO RPG.
While in single player games, its more about the journey, in MMOs, leveling is about the end goal, not how or what you do to get there. Regardless of whether or not I choose to buy the skip potion (still deciding), if there wasn't enjoyable end-game content waiting for me at the end of the grind, then why waste time/money leveling to get to that point?

Grinding POTD/HoH and killing one single mob at level 1 are not the same thing at all. If you want to compare it correctly using mobs, it's like killing the same set of mobs over and over to level all the way up until 60, where you switch to a second group of mobs until 70. Of course, there's not a single legitimate leveling guide out there that tells you to farm level 1 mobs outside of your first class when at a very low level. You're not going to be grinding the level 1 mobs with alt classes the same way you do POTD or HoH.

Why level 60? What is it specially about grinding mobs over and over again to level 60 equates to repeating a dungeon? When killing mobs, does killing a different one make all the difference to you? Repetitive action is in nearly every RPG ever made. Having to repeat an action for EXP to progress should not be a new concept to you it's been done as since RPGs were invented.

My point still stands. You're eventually going to run out of classes to level in the lower areas of the game and will be eventually be at maximum level, or start a lower level alt character. And if there really was some other bit of content that you should to grind each class/job slowly to unlock slowly, you'll need to progress (actual progression) further in the game to get there. If being at a lower level gives you a dopamine rush, you're eventually going to need to be at max level to continue getting new content or get an alt to get that rush. And in the case where you do get an alt, my previous point applies.

Yes, I get bored when progression ends. That is why I don't stick to a single game and would instead begin progression on a new RPG. I do not desire to be max level in all my jobs but I may eventually get there as a byproduct of working on all my jobs one by one.

If a game is flawed and you don't like playing it, throwing even more money at it over any other game you'd like to play is perhaps a waste of money.

[Joe_Schmoe]

Is a level skip worth it?

It is to me. Otherwise I wouldn't be playing that class at all. I'd rather grind 10 levels than 80, especially when I know where the class guides & training dummies are. It's also one of the biggest reasons I quit playing Path of Exile and Diablo 2, no level skip with these. I don't like starting over.

[Delis]

If a game is flawed and you don't like playing it, throwing even more money at it over any other game you'd like to play is perhaps a waste of money.

Yeah but for some of us it is not a waste of money to skip the leveling. For some of us the game doesn't become fun/really start till endgame. For me Ex trials, relic grind, Savage raids is 10x more fun than leveling up and going through dungeons. That is what great about MMOs, you have plenty of options of things to do if you don't like one thing, there is plenty of other things to do.

[Edax]

Yeah but for some of us it is not a waste of money to skip the leveling. For some of us the game doesn't become fun/really start till endgame. For me Ex trials, relic grind, Savage raids is 10x more fun than leveling up and going through dungeons. That is what great about MMOs, you have plenty of options of things to do if you don't like one thing, there is plenty of other things to do.

So you pay extra money because of the flaws in the video game.

[Delis]

So you pay extra money because of the flaws in the video game.

I would not say it is a flaw though. It is working as it should and plenty of people that enjoy that part of the game and they have every right too. Just like me and others have every right to not enjoy it but enjoy other things about the game. The devs know this so they have given us an option to skip that part. Every game has flaws and has things that are enjoyable. Not everyone is going to enjoy 100% of an mmo. There is always going to be something some people like but others dislike, and there is nothing wrong with that. You can not satisfy everyone with every aspect of a game.

[Alleluia]

Couldn't the OP level skip and then run deep dungeon to get the "add a skill one at a time" experience?

[Controller]

My thing is, is it really a waste if they already leveled to max but don't really want to level again? This isn't the most fun experience starting over in XIV if I'm honest. The lower dungeons are a drag, all of my fav dungeons are after the 60 range. Most of the jobs feel better from that point on too. On your first character/job I'd agree in not buying a skip but anything after that? Why not? Here's the rub to that though. As long as you're willing to PRACTICE and PRACTICE and ... PRACTICE that job so you don't look like a moto bug then what's the harm?

[AwesomeJr44]

Why level 60?

Because when you hit level 60, you swap over to HoH if you're using POTD to level. That should have been fairly obvious considering the context.

What is it specially about grinding mobs over and over again to level 60 equates to repeating a dungeon?

The act of doing something over and over without anything new to experience, and you're the one who brought up killing level 1 mobs.

Repetitive action is in nearly every RPG ever made. Having to repeat an action for EXP to progress should not be a new concept to you it's been done as since RPGs were invented.

RPG =/= MMO RPG, which I've provided enough examples of the differences to prove that point already. I'll also remind you of the point I made about needing to grind to max level in an MMO rather than average level in a normal RPG, which means the grinding is much worse in an MMO.

Yes, I get bored when progression ends.

There's no problem with this, but progression doesn't end at level 20 either. The same applies to every level in the game INCLUDING level 80.

That is why I don't stick to a single game and would instead begin progression on a new RPG. I do not desire to be max level in all my jobs but I may eventually get there as a byproduct of working on all my jobs one by one.

This is your decision and if you don't want to stick with FFXIV long-term, that's up to you. However, that isn't typical of the majority of MMO players outside of the most absolute casual of players. MMOs are meant to be played over a long period of time with leveling only being a portion of that. Don't treat your mentality as the norm because it isn't.

If a game is flawed and you don't like playing it, throwing even more money at it over any other game you'd like to play is perhaps a waste of money.

The process of leveling isn't flawed, just unenjoyable. It's supposed to be a grind so SE can get you to play longer. And more hours means more money from subscriptions. There's nothing wrong with this system, but that doesn't mean its fun for everyone who plays the game. Your argument that not liking the leveling grind means you don't like the entire game is pretty flawed though. Leveling 'progression' is only one of many aspects of the game and even if that's all YOU enjoy, that doesn't mean the rest of the game doesn't exist, nor does it render it invalid for everyone else.

[Roda]

Couldn't the OP level skip and then run deep dungeon to get the "add a skill one at a time" experience?

Eh, PotD doesn't give you enough time to like toy with the mechanics you're getting. Things just die way too quickly. I prefer doing the leveling trials in order.



To the OP, I personally don't think level skipping is worth it. Leveling classes in this game is plenty fast, especially with the new MSQ exp boosts, and SOME of the class/job quests that you skip can give some decent tutorial practice on new skills as you get them. (plus I enjoy most of the stories) The only job I would even consider going "yeah no that's fair" is SMN, 'cause leveling as an arcanist with the carbuncle changes is awful, the game teaches you bad form by not giving you enough tools to figure out how to weave ogcds, the acn story is alright but not great but the SMN story is just a string of justifications for making it a pet class (no problems there), excuses why they can't give us more pets, excuses why we can't summon bahamut, and then backtracking so we can now summon bahamut, and of course you get SCH out of it too. Any other ARR class and I'd say it's easy enough to level it up the normal way, and anything later and you're absolutely wasting your money since they're almost mostly leveled already. And honestly, if I'm considering paying a videogame to not play it, I just quit that videogame.