Level Boost in FFXIV?

[Eldelphia]

So, amongst others Gamerescape published an interview with YoshiP

Another thing we’re debating internally is whether or not to have something like World of Warcraft’s jumping potion that would work with both levels an story. The Chinese version actually has something similar to this already. I’m trying to decide if something like this should be timed with 4.0. <snip>

WoW would have players pay to jump over and skip levels and it’s something that can be considered for FFXIV as well.

We still have some time until 4.0 so we’re hoping to gather more feedback from players out there to see what would be the best course of action for handling this.

Does this work? I've never played WoW. I feel that FFXIV is fairly story-focused and that you'd miss a lot if SE went this way but I've never experienced it...

[Luthia]

Inb4 his highness starts selling top ill sets of gear in the cash shop.

[Lyall]

XIV has a ton of story content and you would miss out on a lot by skipping right into the new expansion, but in the case of second characters or alts (not that this game is very friendly towards them) it would save you a ton of time and energy getting someone to the cap. Rushing from 1-60 and from 2.0 to 3.3 would still take you tens of hours, not to mention something like a dozen mandatory dungeons and trials. If you're leveling a DPS, that adds queue times to the mix, and there's a ton of slogging without armory bonus or rested EXP.

There would definitely be a market for it, but it'd do colossally more harm than good for new players.

[BaneTheBrawler]

Require a max level character on the account? Alts are the one place I could see this being good, but if new players can use it, it's only gonna make the baddie problem worse.

[Lucavi]

I agree with above. Its feasibly possible, and there is merit to allowing methods of having a newer player to experience more content with their friends, but this game is story-driven to the point of near absurdity. Its not a bad thing, just how the game is designed, so to have a plot-skipper would take away much of the impact of a new player experiencing future content.

Case-in-point: I'm a bit of a lore whore, and I was freaking out at the end fights in Hullbreaker hard, not only because of who you fought, but what it means to fight them from a lore perspective. Knowing who they are in-game, the ranks they have and the history of where they came from - much of it played out through the story itself instead of plain text bubbles or a book entry - I not only felt cool for fighting a strong opponent, I felt awesome from a lore perspective because it was the equivalent of a real person being invited to a sparring session with the Navy Seals or a real-life Admiral for training and morale purposes. When I think of how much of a real-life honor that would be, it spills out into how much I enjoy my character and what they've accomplished, and more importantly, who they've come to know.

TLDR: We're a pretty big fucking deal in the context of the plot by now, and being able to just warp to max level would cheapen the SHIT out of that, as well as remove the player's ability to actually know who the fuck they're ever talking to and why they're important.

Edit: And all of this says nothing about how shitty the average new player would be jumping from level 15 to 60 in an instant.

[ronin sparthos]

If you care about story, music and lore, it makes little sense to jump ahead of the linear narrative. If you don't care about story, why are you playing FFXIV to begin with? There is very little reason not to enjoy the entire ride from start to finish.

[Kaisha]

Level boost was what killed WoW for me since I suddenly had a high level Warlock that I didn't know how to play, and not knowing where exactly I needed to go to continue leveling/story stuffs. Big mistake for me using it on my main character and not saving it for an alt.


I'd rather they consider ingame time cards before this.

[Ksandra]

I'd rather they not do this BUT. I imagine if they did this it would work on other jobs no?

So say you went through the story on whm already but want to take pld up without the dungeon grind, you would pay for this. You wouldn't be losing out on the story if you did that.


The purpose of it for WoW was really for two reasons 1. people who wanted to play with their 90+ lvl friends and didn't want to wait. 2. People who have had to do GOLDSHIRE 340598340598345 TIMES GDI CAN ONLY KILL STUPID NERFED HOGGER SO MANY TIMES.

Some classes lend themselves to only be marginally different. ie. sch and whm basically sharing most abilities.



Note: I never did it in WoW and wouldn't in FF. But only because I am a cheapo and fuck paying for something I can do myself. But I do see the logic, and see how it could work.

[Destinye]

I BELIEVE the chinese version (and maybe even Korean) has a 'level boost' feature, so I'm sure they'll roll it out regardless of feedback if they know it will bring in more players/money.

[Lucavi]

I could absolutely see it being used for Alts, though. I feel like they -SHOULD- have an option for alts.

Just not mains. Maybe have some mentorship thing where you can run through level scaled versions of each fight with your stronger friends to learn some of the mechanics in a slightly safer (and faster) setting, but everyone, and I mean EVERYONE -needs- to have a bit of Titan Hard (and maybe even EX) in their life so they know what this goddamn game is all about.

You haven't even come close to earning your stripes until you've mastered Landslide.

[Spider-Dan]

I'm not sure how this would even work, given how much this game relies on quest prereqs.

Will you be boosted up to the main scenario quest at the beginning of the current patch? Does that include clearing the dungeons and (normal mode) primals? Will you have flight in the HW areas (which requires other sidequest chains to be completed)?

[Dotsudoku]

I could absolutely see it being used for Alts, though. I feel like they -SHOULD- have an option for alts.

Just not mains. Maybe have some mentorship thing where you can run through level scaled versions of each fight with your stronger friends to learn some of the mechanics in a slightly safer (and faster) setting, but everyone, and I mean EVERYONE -needs- to have a bit of Titan Hard (and maybe even EX) in their life so they know what this goddamn game is all about.

You haven't even come close to earning your stripes until you've mastered Landslide.

the only thing unique about Titan was the zero tolerance policy on dodging, which is all over the place at this point

[Shenrien]

Give the player the option at any time to drop the MSQ where they're at and be given the choice to watch all the cutscenes in a featured length movie to catch up on the story and as they reach the level thresholds for dungeons they automatically unlock, so like you hit 32 and brayflox suddenly unlocks and the game informs the player.

This would greatly take away from the biggest issue with the game and that it takes a lot of determination to get through 2.1-3.0 story. A lot of 3.0 can be skipped if you have a friend with a dual mount, You can get into zones you're not suppose to sooner and get to locations earlier, so the leveling process from 50 to 60 isn't nearly as awful as the experience someone can have going from 1 to 50.

[Lucavi]

the only thing unique about Titan was the fact that it was a giant hurdle for new players to get over.

Right. Exactly what I said.

Good talk.

[solracht]

Those who don't care about the plot have been skipping the dialog and cutscenes for the past 3 years so I don't understand this concern over new players skipping the story now. This game is story-oriented only if you want it to be - with or without level boost. As long as boosted characters are allowed to go back and do the MSQ not much would really change in this regard.

As for people reaching max level and not knowing how to play... it's not like the 1-59 leveling experience teaches you much (the 2.0-2.55 MSQ sure as hell doesn't). They should, however, add a mandatory tutorial area/dungeon that you have to complete after getting boosted. If designed correctly, it might even do a better job at teaching players than ARR+HW did.

That said, rather than letting people skip the entire game, I would prefer to see a revamp to the way content is unlocked (letting you enter most dungeons/trials/areas and unlock jobs without doing the MSQ) and an extensive MSQ trim (most of the MSQ quests should be sidequests) but if they're going leave the MSQ as it is (especially the ARR MSQ) then I won't complain if they add the boosting potion.

[solracht]

but everyone, and I mean EVERYONE -needs- to have a bit of Titan Hard (and maybe even EX) in their life so they know what this goddamn game is all about.

You haven't even come close to earning your stripes until you've mastered Landslide.

When you enter Titan HM as a new player (which isn't even mandatory until the 2.5 MSQ) and everyone in the PT is i130 you're more likely to clear the fight while dead rather than mastering anything. In terms of lessons taught by the MSQ I don't see how it would be such an incredible loss if people had the option to skip the fight entirely.

[Eldelphia]

Interesting OF post from Vejjiegirl about this here http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...=1#post3745611
Has images and shows how they're doing this for the Chinese players. I've rehosted the images - click for full size.

Info about the Chinese Cash Shop "Level Jumping Potions"
After reading this reddit thread:
https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme...fxiv_isnt_wow/

"Another thing we’re debating internally is whether or not to have something like World of Warcraft’s jumping potion that would work with both levels an story. The Chinese version actually has something similar to this already. I’m trying to decide if something like this should be timed with 4.0."

I decided to go take a look at FFXIV China's cash shop and give examples on what kind of content you can buy from them to boost your level.

So first off China FFXIV has pretty much the same things you would find in our cash shop, the only main differences are the China exlusive items (like the dress) and some of the exclusive holiday and Collectors edition items you can get from the NA/JPN version. for example, you can buy the 1.0 Gobuue mount in here (which is understandable since they never had a 1.0 version)



They have a Progression tab in the cash shop where you can buy multiple packages.

Quest Progression Packs.
And Various Job Packs.




Buying the Progression Pack will allow you to auto complete all mainstory quests below 3.0 giving you access to Heavensward content and ishgard instantly.

You also obtain 10 Silver Chocobo Feathers and 300,000 gil.

You can get a discount depending on how many main story quests you have completed before 3.0.



The Job Packs include 10 Seperate packs for each jobs before 3.0 (ninja included) so there is no Dark Knight, Astro, or Machinist Job Packs.

When you buy a Job Pack It will boost whatever job you picked to level 50.

You also obtain the following items and gil
200,000 gil
Ninja Quest Record (used to get your quest skills)
Item level 70 Weapon
10 Silver Chocobo Feathers



Note: This is a rough translation, I have provided links below if you want to get a more clear look at this and do your own translations.

Job Pack Example
http://act.ff.sdo.com/shop/Detail.aspx?id=82

Progression Pack Example
http://act.ff.sdo.com/shop/taskitem.aspx

[Zetanio]

You mean I can finally just autolevel a combat job so I can access all the fishing areas? Sign me up.

[Lucavi]

When you enter Titan HM as a new player (which isn't even mandatory until the 2.5 MSQ) and everyone in the PT is i130 you're more likely to clear the fight while dead rather than mastering anything. In terms of lessons taught by the MSQ I don't see how it would be such an incredible loss if people had the option to skip the fight entirely.

I don't think it'd be an "incredible loss", no, but I'm a fan of including the fight in a greater tutorial sequence or something to train the player. Titan HM was the first fight to teach players that failing -even just once- has consequences. Sure, if they're being carried, they'll watch from the floor, but toss 8 rookies into the fight and when exactly are they getting out of there?

There are/were myriad other fights after that one that taught the same lesson, but Titan was a harsh lesson.

Edit: Damn, they even set you up with a decent chunk of in-game cash. I'm sure China alone keeps SE's lights on each month.

[Grieverbk]

Require a max level character on the account? Alts are the one place I could see this being good, but if new players can use it, it's only gonna make the baddie problem worse.

100% this.