[Screenshot] 50% "Experience Booster" - ZOS, can we get a confirmation or further details?

Baogo · March 2015

This is not pay to win. SWTOR has been doing things like this since they went F2P and the cartel market went live. That game is fine. Heck for two months at the end of last year SWTOR made class quests 12X xp for subs and you could end level in 10 hours. The only complaint people had was when it was coming back.

So what if someone levels to V14 in less time than you? Its not game breaking and its not Pay to Win.

Pay to win would be them adding gear to the crown store that is as good as or better than top gear.

alainjbrennanb16_ESO · March 2015

here we go swtor all over again slowly by slowly bringing in pay 2 win items and yet again we find ZOS lies if this is true its another nail in to the coffen psuhing me closer to the exit

PKMN12 · March 2015

Baogo wrote: »

This is not pay to win. SWTOR has been doing things like this since they went F2P and the cartel market went live. That game is fine. Heck for two months at the end of last year SWTOR made class quests 12X xp for subs and you could end level in 10 hours. The only complaint people had was when it was coming back.

So what if someone levels to V14 in less time than you? Its not game breaking and its not Pay to Win.

Pay to win would be them adding gear to the crown store that is as good as or better than top gear.

again, you are forgetting the Champion system, which uses XP. Basically they ARE adding endgame progression to the cash store.

Someone who buys the XP potions are going to be automatically better statwise and passive wise then someone who did not.

Zershar_Vemod · March 2015

Baogo wrote: »

This is not pay to win. SWTOR has been doing things like this since they went F2P and the cartel market went live. That game is fine. Heck for two months at the end of last year SWTOR made class quests 12X xp for subs and you could end level in 10 hours. The only complaint people had was when it was coming back.

So what if someone levels to V14 in less time than you? Its not game breaking and its not Pay to Win.

Pay to win would be them adding gear to the crown store that is as good as or better than top gear.

VR 14 vs. someone under that level will see a difference in performance. Right off the bat the person using xp boosts have an advantage over another player leveling "normally."

And you forget that CP is tied to all of this too.

Got to love all the defenders. Oh, and as someone who also did SWTOR, the limited 12x was a promotion to get players to return to spend money on the new expansion which had mixed reviews to say the least. The XP boosts there widened to gaps between players and made many maps completely empty due to everyone rushing to the little endgame that game has.

You also forget that SWTOR has revolved around the Cartel Market since F2P conversion.

Lionxoft · March 2015

Dominoid wrote: »

We all know item links can manipulate the quality of the item . . .

I actually think the "Gold" link made it 50%. Say:
White - 10%

Green - 20%

Blue - 30%

Purple - 40%

Gold - 50%

But we'll see. Does anyone have the code for the link? I would like to see what the numbers do, if anything, when you change the quality.

That could be a fair assumption and by that theory also change their duration as well. Some Crown Store items are gold quality simply because they cost actual currency though. The Pledge of Mara is a good example.

ZOS_GinaBruno · March 2015

Hey guys. Matt Firor had previously mentioned in last month's Road Ahead that we would likely be adding experience boost potions to the Crown Store at some point. These types of potions follow our philosophy of only including items for convenience (and customization) in that you will spend less time to gain experience. That said, please remember that this information was datamined (that's ok!) and isn't yet available in-game, so it's not necessarily indicative of the final item that you'll see.

liquid_wolf · March 2015

50% bonus to XP for two hours?

meaning... that someone could get 4 champion points in two hours instead of 2? And at what... $2/$5 a pop they could get 16 extra skill points in 8 hours for the low low price of $16-$40 dollars?

Doesn't seem worth the cost, if you ask me...

I imagine, like other games, these will be available in game by chance/chests/rewards... I remember getting lots of stuff like this in other games and used them when I had a good XP farming moment to make it worthwhile.

PKMN12 · March 2015

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Hey guys. Matt Firor had previously mentioned in last month's Road Ahead that we would likely be adding experience boost potions to the Crown Store at some point. These types of potions follow our philosophy of only including items for convenience (and customization) in that you will spend less time to gain experience. That said, please remember that this information was datamined (that's ok!) and isn't yet available in-game, so it's not necessarily indicative of the final item that you'll see.

It is NOT just for convenience though, thanks to the champion system, you are adding endgame progression, stats, ans passives to the crown store. Someone who buys those poisons is going to be 100% superior to someone who does not.

That is NOT convenience, if all the posts here that are against it should tell you, the devs do this, and this game goes back to be considered a joke by pretty much everyone.

there is only 3 things that yo can say that will stop this game from being a joke with these potions:

1. The potions will only be 10% or so
2. The potions can be bought with gold at a reasonable price or be gotten in some other way in-game without cash.
3. they will NOT effect the champion system at all

Lionxoft · March 2015

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Hey guys. Matt Firor had previously mentioned in last month's Road Ahead that we would likely be adding experience boost potions to the Crown Store at some point. These types of potions follow our philosophy of only including items for convenience (and customization) in that you will spend less time to gain experience. That said, please remember that this information was datamined (that's ok!) and isn't yet available in-game, so it's not necessarily indicative of the final item that you'll see.

@ZOS_GinaBruno Thanks for poppin' in to the thread. Could you shed some more light on what is to be expected from these potions in regards to duration, magnitude of the boost and methods of how to obtain them?

Thanks

angel59 · March 2015

PKMN12 wrote: »

again, you are forgetting the Champion system, which uses XP. Basically they ARE adding endgame progression to the cash store.

Someone who buys the XP potions are going to be automatically better statwise and passive wise then someone who did not.

This is a false statement. If I play 2 hours a day and you play 4, you will still have more cp and experience than I, even if I buy an experience booster. The only person you have to worry about is the one who plays exactly the same way you do, in the same location as you do, killing the same mobs and bosses as you do for the same amount of time as you do. Anything else is pure speculation. And 7 years from now, those people will be at the cp cap just like you. Why does everyone have to progress exactly like you? They certainly dont now.

Reaching a cp cap is no different than reaching a VR14 cap, except it takes longer. It does not make an experience potion p2w because it now takes longer to get there than before the cp. The end result is the same for all people. A cap of 3600. Everyone wins or noone wins. Furthermore, a competitive player will do what it takes to get to the top. If you are not willing to do the same, then you are not as competitve. I am not willing to give up my job, family and life to be the best. Some may be. Get use to it. That is life.

Izzban · March 2015

PKMN12 wrote: »

GW2, LOL, Secret World, Planetside 2, etc they are all doing fine and have no P2W aspect to their cash shops.

I don't know what you are trying to say. There is a laundry list of MMOs, RPGs, and various games that ARE P2W that are doing just fine. In fact, there are far more games that are P2W nowadays than those that are not (P2W being somewhat subjective) which could lead one to the conclusion that P2W games are doing BETTER than non-P2W. So what, exactly, did you prove with your list of MMOs that tow the no P2W line which invalidates Mr. Lion's point (if I may paraphrase) that XP boosts can be detrimental to, or at least cause a shift in, the current community?

Maybe you are trying to say the aforementioned games have a fine community (since it's obvious that subjective and undefined terms such as, "fine" and, "better" don't explain which aspect of the game the user wishes to define) and that is where my confusion over your post comes from. My personal experience with games has been that P2W has less of an impact on the community than the content purchase arrangement. F2P games, I have found, have by far the worst communities followed by B2P while P2P have the best.

The factor of P2W I think has an effect on the community to a lesser degree, but certainly measurable. To support this argument, I wish to refer you to 3 current MMOs with which I am familiar; NVW, DDO, and LoTRO. Each is F2P, each has P2W elements as well as Xp boosts.

Neverwinter has by far the most toxic community. It also has the highest potential for P2W with purchased Zen being easily traded for Astral Diamonds which can be used to buy various character power items, pets, and XP boosts. Gear, while some is gated behind BOD, is mostly a function of how much AD has been spent on the enchantments placed on it.

DDO has a more moderate community compared to NVW, but still far more toxic than, for instance, ESO has been. DDO is built around XP boosts as the main way to advance a character since "rerolling" and running through the content grants past lives which equate to character power. Therefore, the quicker a player can gain XP, the more power their character has. This element is tempered to a degree by gear which is random and sometimes not easily obtainable.

LoTRO has the least toxic community of the three. It has a level cap after which gear determines character power. XP boosts are available, but are not useful once max level is reached. No true character power other than the XP boosts is sold in the store.

In conclusion, XP boosts may be the least detrimental to the community of character power cash shop offers, but this is not to say that they do not have an effect on the community. This is something that everyone who plays should be concerned with.

TLDR: I believe XP boosts bring a deleterious element to any community, though other factors can play a much larger role.

[Moderator Note: Edited quote to match moderated version]

Zershar_Vemod · March 2015

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Hey guys. Matt Firor had previously mentioned in last month's Road Ahead that we would likely be adding experience boost potions to the Crown Store at some point. These types of potions follow our philosophy of only including items for convenience (and customization) in that you will spend less time to gain experience. That said, please remember that this information was datamined (that's ok!) and isn't yet available in-game, so it's not necessarily indicative of the final item that you'll see.

50% is NOT a convenience.

That is a load of BS and you guys know it. Guessing ZOS won't even try to justify this beyond your prewritten "but it's for convenience" excuse? Pathetic.

Well, seeing that I now got my senche mount, and that you guys killed your own "Loyalty Program," maybe I won't be opposed to ending my sub sooner rather than later.

Lower it to 10% and then some very small justification can be made....but 50%....yeah, good luck with keeping a positive image there.

Dominoid · March 2015

liquid_wolf wrote: »

50% bonus to XP for two hours?

meaning... that someone could get 4 champion points in two hours instead of 2? And at what... $2/$5 a pop they could get 16 extra skill points in 8 hours for the low low price of $16-$40 dollars?

Doesn't seem worth the cost, if you ask me...

I imagine, like other games, these will be available in game by chance/chests/rewards... I remember getting lots of stuff like this in other games and used them when I had a good XP farming moment to make it worthwhile.

It's not worth the cost and your math is off. 50% more of 1CP per hour is 1.5 CP. So in two hours, they'd earn 3CP instead of the normal 2.

For just $6,000 and 2400 hours of grinding they could have a maxed out Champion character. Lol

Kragorn · March 2015

liquid_wolf wrote: »

I imagine, like other games, these will be available in game by chance/chests/rewards

Not all other games are like that, LoTRO now has many 'store exclusives' some of which are more P2W than those being discussed here could ever be called.

JoseDelgadoCub17_ESO · March 2015

pppontus wrote: »

I can just speak for me, and I don't really care about XP pots at this point.. and I'll explain why.

I absolutely hate how the Champion System is implemented, the amount of power that can be gained.. all of it is just terrible. It has single-handedly killed off the entire competitive side of this game, in a few months when we look at the leaderboards we'll be like.. oh but they probably had 800CP and we only have 400. Doesn't even matter if it's true or not, you can never compare yourself to anyone anymore because of this stupid ever-ongoing system.

So why are XP pots not a problem?

Because the advantage to be gained is already there, and have been, for weeks. As I see it, up until those pots are launched there is only one way to gain an unfair advantage and that is through time. When they launch, they are nothing but another way to gain an unfair advantage.

As someone who works full time and doesn't get that much time to play, I am going to fall behind anyway. Do I care whether people gain their advantage through time or money? Not really.. the advantage is there anyway and it's very existance is by definition the problem.

Basically, if the Champion System didn't exist, XP pots couldn't be a problem. Now, they're just another avenue to progress in a broken system.

You would have had to been extremely naive to think that this wasn't going to happen. We simply have to deal with the fact that there is nothing competitive left in ESO, and we can either live with it or quit the game.

But unless you already wanted to gain an advantage (the same advantage now offered through money) through spending more time "grinding", I don't see how XP potions would be a dealbreaker.

this right there.

The fact is on WoW Destiny LOL and etc there is a cap and can catch up.

this just system rewards mindless grinders and also doesn't even add build diversity since you can put points in everything.

at least having a cap would make player builds different and when they add more passives the cap could increase but the fact that the cap literally requires 150 days of played game time is an incredible flaw.

also a 3600 champion point toon does 2400k dps vs a 70 CP doing 1200k... that's is literally twice as much DPS and the 70 CP player will never catch up unless the 3600 literally quits.

in WoW a 620 ilevel raider you can catch up and be on even grounds.

in Destiny you can catch up to a 32 light Warlock and be on even grounds.

on league you can catch up to other level 30 Summoners.

a system where you literally can never catch up is how this game is going to get bashed into the ground... I mean people complaied about the vr14 grind... when the 3600 cp grind is 100× worse.

PKMN12 · March 2015

Izzban wrote: »

PKMN12 wrote: »

GW2, LOL, Secret World, Planetside 2, etc they are all doing fine and have no P2W aspect to their cash shops, so yeah, your argument is complete and total BS to the extreme.

I don't know what you are trying to say. There is a laundry list of MMOs, RPGs, and various games that ARE P2W that are doing just fine. In fact, there are far more games that are P2W nowadays than those that are not (P2W being somewhat subjective) which could lead one to the conclusion that P2W games are doing BETTER than non-P2W. So what, exactly, did you prove with your list of MMOs that tow the no P2W line which invalidates Mr. Lion's point (if I may paraphrase) that XP boosts can be detrimental to, or at least cause a shift in, the current community?

Maybe you are trying to say the aforementioned games have a fine community (since it's obvious that subjective and undefined terms such as, "fine" and, "better" don't explain which aspect of the game the user wishes to define) and that is where my confusion over your post comes from. My personal experience with games has been that P2W has less of an impact on the community than the content purchase arrangement. F2P games, I have found, have by far the worst communities followed by B2P while P2P have the best.

The factor of P2W I think has an effect on the community to a lesser degree, but certainly measurable. To support this argument, I wish to refer you to 3 current MMOs with which I am familiar; NVW, DDO, and LoTRO. Each is F2P, each has P2W elements as well as Xp boosts.

Neverwinter has by far the most toxic community. It also has the highest potential for P2W with purchased Zen being easily traded for Astral Diamonds which can be used to buy various character power items, pets, and XP boosts. Gear, while some is gated behind BOD, is mostly a function of how much AD has been spent on the enchantments placed on it.

DDO has a more moderate community compared to NVW, but still far more toxic than, for instance, ESO has been. DDO is built around XP boosts as the main way to advance a character since "rerolling" and running through the content grants past lives which equate to character power. Therefore, the quicker a player can gain XP, the more power their character has. This element is tempered to a degree by gear which is random and sometimes not easily obtainable.

LoTRO has the least toxic community of the three. It has a level cap after which gear determines character power. XP boosts are available, but are not useful once max level is reached. No true character power other than the XP boosts is sold in the store.

In conclusion, XP boosts may be the least detrimental to the community of character power cash shop offers, but this is not to say that they do not have an effect on the community. This is something that everyone who plays should be concerned with.

TLDR: I believe XP boosts bring a deleterious element to any community, though other factors can play a much larger role.

yeah, and all of those P2W MMOS are considered a joke by any self-respecting gamer.

NEverwinter allows you to get teh cash shop money in-game without spending a dime,

DDO has NO PVP at all and was never the intention of the game (besides the things in the inns, that no one cares about), and PVE can be done easily with someone who has no payed a dime. also, how is that community toxic? The only time you will EVER be yelled at in that game is if you are a jerk yourself, you have an ego, or your build is trash you refuse to realize it.

Also, the ENTIRE POINT of ESO was for the cyrodiil PVP thing, that was the biggest thing for the devs. if these 50% potions come out, congrats you just ruined a good potion of the game and the only peopel who will ever be able to succeed are people who have bought the XP pots.

Lotro DOES has stat boosts IN THE STORE directly.

ONCE AGAIN, NONE OF THEM HAVE ANYTHING LIKE THE CHAMPION SYSTEM.

Lionxoft · March 2015

liquid_wolf wrote: »

50% bonus to XP for two hours?

meaning... that someone could get 4 champion points in two hours instead of 2? And at what... $2/$5 a pop they could get 16 extra skill points in 8 hours for the low low price of $16-$40 dollars?

Doesn't seem worth the cost, if you ask me...

I imagine, like other games, these will be available in game by chance/chests/rewards... I remember getting lots of stuff like this in other games and used them when I had a good XP farming moment to make it worthwhile.

The price point I think does indeed have a factor on how they will sell but they will sell. As for other methods beyond the Crown Store for obtaining these I think would be nice. In-game gold or rewards/drops would be awesome.

I have played some games where they even award them during parts of the story that are necessary but drag on lol.

I'd rather not see them as a Crown Store exclusive but that's even a compromise for me to admit.

Lionxoft · March 2015

Dominoid wrote: »

liquid_wolf wrote: »

50% bonus to XP for two hours?

meaning... that someone could get 4 champion points in two hours instead of 2? And at what... $2/$5 a pop they could get 16 extra skill points in 8 hours for the low low price of $16-$40 dollars?

Doesn't seem worth the cost, if you ask me...

I imagine, like other games, these will be available in game by chance/chests/rewards... I remember getting lots of stuff like this in other games and used them when I had a good XP farming moment to make it worthwhile.

It's not worth the cost and your math is off. 50% more of 1CP per hour is 1.5 CP. So in two hours, they'd earn 3CP instead of the normal 2.

For just $6,000 and 2400 hours of grinding they could have a maxed out Champion character. Lol

$6,000 is nothing for the Whale demographic.

Craven_Killmore · March 2015

The only people who care about what others spend their money on are the ones with little to no money. I'm just fine with them adding them, did zos say they would just give you a game for practically free? no they didn't.

Kalfis · March 2015

Put a damn level cap on the potions then, JEEZ.

I just want them to level 1-VR14 faster!
Hell, even 1-VR1 is fine.

DDuke · March 2015

Dominoid wrote: »

liquid_wolf wrote: »

50% bonus to XP for two hours?

meaning... that someone could get 4 champion points in two hours instead of 2? And at what... $2/$5 a pop they could get 16 extra skill points in 8 hours for the low low price of $16-$40 dollars?

Doesn't seem worth the cost, if you ask me...

I imagine, like other games, these will be available in game by chance/chests/rewards... I remember getting lots of stuff like this in other games and used them when I had a good XP farming moment to make it worthwhile.

It's not worth the cost and your math is off. 50% more of 1CP per hour is 1.5 CP. So in two hours, they'd earn 3CP instead of the normal 2.

For just $6,000 and 2400 hours of grinding they could have a maxed out Champion character. Lol

Quoting myself for the 7th time now, I wish people would read before posting.

This is the difference between 750 & 500 CPs (50%) for a stamina build:
-5.3% Stamina Costs Spells/Abilities
+4.5% Stamina Regeneration
+5.1% more Healing Reduction
+5.8% Light/Heavy Attack Damage
+9% Physical Critical Strike damage
+5.9% Armour Penetration
+1.2% Spell Resistance
-6.9% DoT damage taken
-5% Poison/Disease/Magic damage taken
-5% Flame/Frost/Shock damage taken.
When killed, heal Allies within 8m by X
50% reduced Gathering times
Better items from Treasure Chests
15% chance to return X damage to attacker when blocking a melee attack, 5 second cooldown

You don't have to be a genius to notice these aren't small differences.
In fact, these are equal to dozens of set bonuses from gear, which would make purchasing these boosters basicly the same as purchasing some uber gear with billion set bonuses.

How is this not P2W to (some) people?

Still not worth it? Ok, have fun getting destroyed by everyone who does think it's worth it.

Grigs · March 2015

Baogo wrote: »

This is not pay to win. SWTOR has been doing things like this since they went F2P and the cartel market went live. That game is fine. Heck for two months at the end of last year SWTOR made class quests 12X xp for subs and you could end level in 10 hours. The only complaint people had was when it was coming back.

So what if someone levels to V14 in less time than you? Its not game breaking and its not Pay to Win.

Pay to win would be them adding gear to the crown store that is as good as or better than top gear.

Wrong, you forget the champion system. You're flat out wrong in the comparison too.

Your information in which you based your post off of is just wrong.

Craven_Killmore wrote: »

The only people who care about what others spend their money on are the ones with little to no money. I'm just fine with them adding them, did zos say they would just give you a game for practically free? no they didn't.

Ahh, insult the poor. argumentum ad hominem

For the record, you pay for this game first. This is Buy to play, not free to play.

Zershar_Vemod · March 2015

DDuke wrote: »

Dominoid wrote: »

liquid_wolf wrote: »

50% bonus to XP for two hours?

meaning... that someone could get 4 champion points in two hours instead of 2? And at what... $2/$5 a pop they could get 16 extra skill points in 8 hours for the low low price of $16-$40 dollars?

Doesn't seem worth the cost, if you ask me...

I imagine, like other games, these will be available in game by chance/chests/rewards... I remember getting lots of stuff like this in other games and used them when I had a good XP farming moment to make it worthwhile.

It's not worth the cost and your math is off. 50% more of 1CP per hour is 1.5 CP. So in two hours, they'd earn 3CP instead of the normal 2.

For just $6,000 and 2400 hours of grinding they could have a maxed out Champion character. Lol

Quoting myself for the 7th time now, I wish people would read before posting.

This is the difference between 750 & 500 CPs (50%) for a stamina build:
-5.3% Stamina Costs Spells/Abilities
+4.5% Stamina Regeneration
+5.1% more Healing Reduction
+5.8% Light/Heavy Attack Damage
+9% Physical Critical Strike damage
+5.9% Armour Penetration
+1.2% Spell Resistance
-6.9% DoT damage taken
-5% Poison/Disease/Magic damage taken
-5% Flame/Frost/Shock damage taken.
When killed, heal Allies within 8m by X
50% reduced Gathering times
Better items from Treasure Chests
15% chance to return X damage to attacker when blocking a melee attack, 5 second cooldown

You don't have to be a genius to notice these aren't small differences.
In fact, these are equal to dozens of set bonuses from gear, which would make purchasing these boosters basicly the same as purchasing some uber gear with billion set bonuses.

How is this not P2W to (some) people?

I'm pretty sure others read, but just want to ignore the facts.

Thavie · March 2015

If I play 2 hours a day and you play 4, you will still have more cp and experience than I, even if I buy an experience booster.

OK, but if I play 4, and you just 2, and I will buy this boost, not you? And what if i play 6 hours and have a lot of money to buy boosts every day? Huh?

Lifsteinn · March 2015

I my opinion, 20% bonus for 7 days at 500 crowns, fair enough!

Lionxoft · March 2015

Craven_Killmore wrote: »

The only people who care about what others spend their money on are the ones with little to no money. I'm just fine with them adding them, did zos say they would just give you a game for practically free? no they didn't.

I don't see anyone in this thread asking for free stuff. I'm sure they will purchase DLC when it's made available or subscribe for access. Maybe they like costumes and that's their way of showing support for the game? I don't think that XP Boosters are the only type of revenue. Sure, they are "great" recurring purchases to keep players in the game and buying things but they certainly aren't the only way to profit. Stating that people want things for free just because they are opposed to this item isn't really that fair to them.

I'm sure a lot of players that are opposed to XP boosters would willingly pay for content such as the Imperial City DLC or whatever that is now. :P

sebban · March 2015

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Hey guys. Matt Firor had previously mentioned in last month's Road Ahead that we would likely be adding experience boost potions to the Crown Store at some point. These types of potions follow our philosophy of only including items for convenience (and customization) in that you will spend less time to gain experience. That said, please remember that this information was datamined (that's ok!) and isn't yet available in-game, so it's not necessarily indicative of the final item that you'll see.

This is not a convenience, this is clearly a case of paying money to get ahead of other players. Pay 2 win.

What's next? "Oh it would be REALLY convenient if I could just buy all the best gear for money!"

Slippery slope.

Blackmoon777 · March 2015

if there will be exp boosters that gives more then +10% exp, well ... CU ZENIMAX

liquid_wolf · March 2015

This is being blown out of proportion. 50% bonus xp doesn't matter when you are talking about a system that has... what? 1200 Champion Points? Or was it closer to 3600?

The few individuals that have the cash and the time to exploit this will quickly make themselves obvious by competing in PvP or PvE with other players, and Zenimax will make the necessary adjustments.

I want to see what prices these come in at... because no one is going to be buying them if they don't have a good price range. And putting them in a "good" price range wouldn't necessarily be a benefit to the company that wants people playing and paying.

eventide03b14a_ESO · March 2015

WraithAzraiel wrote: »

Streega wrote: »

How about NOOO? Geez, this B2P is getting P2W more and more every day

What's P2W? They already removed the Magicka, Health and Stamina potions from the Crown Store, because people were crying. Are you going to now try to convince others (and yourself for that matter) that repair kits and soul gems are Pay 2 Win items?

While I agree 50% may be a bit much but if they stick to the original idea that it will be available for not only Crowns but ALSO IN GAME GOLD, then who does it hurt? The people who are broke in game? Their wealth is nobody's problem but their own.

The potions are being retooled because they were not supposed to be more than player made. It's not available for gold, if it is I'd really like to see a link to where that was said. You are buying XP with these, there is no other way to look at it. Convenience means, "I don't have a lot of time to play so let me buy a repair kit so I don't have to run back to town". Convenience is not, "I don't have a lot of time to play so let me increase my XP by 50%". When you have more CP in Cyrodiil than your opponent, then you have a clear advantage. How can any reasonable person not see this?