FF14 player count reached the lowest point in 4 years. We lost 75% of the playerbase.

[syldon]

Unfortunately, because the existing skip button on the online store makes Square Enix a cool $25 any time someone presses it ($50 if you want a job skip with that!), it's never going to be changed.

I can point to 5 people who are not currently subbing to FF. They all do long term sub durations, so that would be 6 month subs each, if they bought into the game. They came to look at the free trial, saw the story and left. SE gained nothing from them.

A level skip is not something I would recommend; it is never an expectation in MMOs. Since Wow and the likes are selling them, then it would be a hard push not to. Especially now the cat is out of the bag.