Gaming

Replying 19 hours later but...

Yes, FF14 does have options to skip story or (most) character levels. They are, like others have stated, primarily targeted towards players who are levelling alts (which the game by nature doesn't really need as much).

FF14's story is amazing, but it's long and not necessarily something you want to repeat.

And while this is effectively buying levels, FF14 is not designed as a pay-to-win game. The amount of experience required to reach maximum level is balanced for someone who is playing the game legitimately -- unlike P2W games where requirements are artificially inflated to encourage you to spend money. You will get most or all of the experience you need to hit max level just from following the storyline and a moderate amount of side quests (on one class anyways.)

That said, many FF14 players say that fashion is the true endgame... and there are a lot of nice-looking items on the store. So I suppose it depends on what your definition of "winning" is. 🙃