Warning: Some of my information may not be 100%. I’m looking at this from the idea of the item, and not so much “exactly what it does/costs”.

I’ve heard a lot [and I mean a lot] of whinging over this. While yes, the exp required to level in Stormblood is going to be lowered, which is a fantastic idea, it’s not really enough. When I was reviewing the first expansion, Heavensward, I spent 48 hours nonstop questing. Only main quests. It made me want to quit, but I couldn’t, because I needed to do about seven months worth of main story quests that I missed, due to being inactive. You cannot move on to new content without doing those main quests. Want to play Heavensward, but you skipped a few months? Better clear a week before you can even get there! So, when I heard about potential Story Pots and Job Boost Pots? I think they’re a marvelous idea, but I sort of see why people are complaining. No, wait, I don’t! Stop bitching! I’m going to get to why they aren’t so bad. The biggest argument I see is “Those fresh 60s are going to suck and ruin dungeons/raids!!” So. . . how is that different than the 60s that have been playing for months/years and still suck? It won’t change a thing, I promise. Besides, simple solution: Force those players to do Guildhests/Missions that teach you how to play at level cap, how to raid, etc. Force them to do that before they do any group content, and bam! Problem solved. Before we move on, let’s ask what these potions do:

• Story Potion: Catches you up in the main story, and you can watch the cutscenes you missed out on in the inn.
• Job Potion: Level Cap you in one job.

The next hurdle is “That will make the game pay to win!” and I laugh. Because getting to level 60 with a potion in one job does not make you ready to conquer the game. Not even a little bit. You have so much work to do! You have to learn your class, do your job quests, get into the world and get geared, so no. You’re not ready. No, I’m not going to take the low road and quote Illidan. We’re above that, here at OnRPG. The problem I have, granted, is putting a cost on them and no other way. Do what World of Warcraft did: Offer a free one of each with the game, or even with the expansion. However, from what I understand, it’s about 5000 yen, but it’s not clear if that’s for both potions or just one. If it winds up being 80 bucks for both potions? Immediate turn off. That to me is a huge problem. Then it feels like it’s a pay-to-win situation for me. It needs to be something that’s accessible, without being a financial burden on people who want to play the game, but don’t have time to catch up. The other great thing I see for this, is people who are already established on a server, but have friends on other servers. All of my friends play on different servers. But I don’t have the time of day to level cap on every one of those servers, gear up and get ready to do content with them. I just… I don’t.

The long and the short, is that this is only out in. . . China and Korea I think, and won’t be available to us for quite some time. The system’s not even 100% in place yet, prices haven’t been decided, and there’s likely still a lot of fiddling to be done with it. But I think it has the potential to make the game more accessible, and allow players to either come back, or start and catch up to their friends easily. I like the idea in principle. But if it’s going to be expensive, and no free ones offered to people in the main game/expansions, I’ll like it a lot less. Take a breath guys; it won’t be so bad.