Free Company Information

[Serielley]

In the latest Live Letter, Yoshi-P had this to say about Free Companies:

F: Please explain the details of free company
Y: First gather with 4 people - get in grand company - go to grand company counter and apply for free company and that’s when it will be created. At that time you will have a shared box which is shared with the 4 and have for example company leader which can only take out items from the box and stuff. It has detailed option so you can set those. By completing contents your free company level increases and you can create more emblems or have other features to expand. You can make a free company with 8 static members but say you can have allie with another company where you can share BBS (forum) and stuff together it has lots of options.
Y: You can also join company as a guest to try out the company and see if you like the company or not. Also you can invite low level players and by helping them you get points and stuff. It’s not too strict but one thing is you can’t have multiple free company as we have issues with shared items and stuff so that will be there.

I see some things here that like, (leveling your Free Company, shared storage, alliances, etc.) but I also see something that I'd really like clarification on from the devs.

Are Free Companies tied to the Grand Companies? Meaning, is it going to be required that all members of a Free Company belong to the same GC? Are we going to be able to have members be from all GCs? I'd really like to get some clarification on that, since if, for instance, all FC members have to be Maelstrom, or if our FC's allegiance is tied to just the Maelstrom that's going to make a lot of people in my LS upset. I also don't want to have to run 3 different FCs to accommodate all of my members.

I know that FCs won't be in the game at launch, and are coming soon after, but the more information we can get about them, the better. As a LS leader, I'm going to need to be able to plan in advance for my members, and I know I'm not the only one out there with concerns about how the new "guild" system in ARR is going to work.

[Arcell]

Definitely need clarification on this, it's really one of my only concerns right now. I mean the way it's worded I'm hoping it's just "four people who are a part of any Grand Company". It's vague though so I can understand people would be worried. Please don't restrict FCs to specific GCs for members.

[normalforce]

I don't have a link, but it was stated long ago that Free Companies could be a mix of the various Grand Companies.

Just relax, it's fine. Free Companies will solve all your woes.

[Ruisu]

IIRC, you don't have to align yourself with any GC, but you will benefit from doing so. The members of said free company can be in whatever GC they want, as well. They just have to agree with who you align to, or something.

Source is from a really really old interview that I'm not going to bother digging up. So take my information with a grain of salt, I guess.

[RoxyLalonde]

Ok, from what's been discussed and the information given here is the CURRENT restrictions for FCs
An FC will be 4-8 members FOUR being required to make one
It has not been specified that all members have to be of the same grand company, but I would assume that atleast 1 member would have to be.
You can have temporary members test it out.
There will be a shared item inventory and a set "leader" it seems
there will be a BBS bored
you will be able to "Ally" with other FCs
FC level will affect house size/land plot possibly...
Possibly some type of shared FC house/base will be buildable the last two are MAYBE's

[REDace0]

I recall specifically in the interview others have referenced, that one feature of FCs would be allowing people from other GCs to complete quests for that GC, i.e. if you have a FC of two Maelstrom, one Immortal Flames, and one Twin Adders, that's allied to the Maelstrom, then the Flames and Adders members can experience Maelstrom quests without having to abandon their GCs (however, at the time of the interview, it wasn't revealed that you will be able to quit your GC).

There. More evidence that you can mix GCs in a FC, though I wish I had the time to track down a link.

[Orophin]

I took it as the people forming the free company have to belong to any grand company. They're just making it more involved than running up to the NPC in the starting cities and saying "gimme a linkpearl!" With a free company, you have to have people with at least level 20 characters to form it. (the level requirement to join a GC)

[Eclipse]

Please provide clarification on the development of Free Companies!!

I am completely disappointed how the Free Company has evolved. This is not how it was described a few interviews ago.

They mentioned that LS's would be used as communication devices and your Free Company, which you could only belong to one (at a time), would be your main end game group.

1. Now they have also mentioned alliance content that is going to be required in 2.0, so are we still going to be using Linkshells as our main grouping devices?

2. Are we going to have more control over Linkshells as leaders?

3. I am seriously restricted to only inviting 8 people to a Free Company. I thought 2.0 was suppose to help alleviate the 8 people content restriction, not push for it more?

Now if it was a misunderstanding when it comes to the translation I can understand. In pardon my French, WoW, in order to start a Guild you need a solid amount of signatures on your parchment or what not.

So in XIVARR you need 4 people to start a Free Company. Got ya.

In WoW you get a bank that has restrictions and settings.

In XIVARR you get something similar to a bank.

So what we really need to know is, what are our restrictions and what is the goal of having and utilizing a free company.

These items must be clarified!

[normalforce]

Please provide clarification on the development of Free Companies!!

I am completely disappointed how the Free Company has evolved. This is not how it was described a few interviews ago.

They mentioned that LS's would be used as communication devices and your Free Company, which you could only belong to one (at a time), would be your main end game group.

1. Now they have also mentioned alliance content that is going to be required in 2.0, so are we still going to be using Linkshells as our main grouping devices?

2. Are we going to have more control over Linkshells as leaders?

3. I am seriously restricted to only inviting 8 people to a Free Company. I thought 2.0 was suppose to help alleviate the 8 people content restriction, not push for it more?

Now if it was a misunderstanding when it comes to the translation I can understand. In pardon my French, WoW, in order to start a Guild you need a solid amount of signatures on your parchment or what not.

So in XIVARR you need 4 people to start a Free Company. Got ya.

In WoW you get a bank that has restrictions and settings.

In XIVARR you get something similar to a bank.

So what we really need to know is, what are our restrictions and what is the goal of having and utilizing a free company.

These items must be clarified!

I'm not sure where this 8 person restriction on Free Companies is coming from but let's nip this in the bud. Unless I've missed an interview, there's been no mention of an upper limit. Just the bare minimum needed to be considered a Free Company.

So, if you've seen it brandied about, could you link me to it? I've been anxiously awaiting Free Companies for months and I thought I had a handle for everything.

About your first question, it's my understanding that while you can belong to multiple Linkshells, you can only belong to one Free Company. I'd be interested to see how alliances are going to play out as sometimes it's difficult to even get 8 people together to do something. I can't imagine trying to coordinate multiple companies together for a single event/quest/whatever.

[Alixandir]

I think it was in Reinharts translation. Seriously bummed out if there is a max 8 person limit on free companies. I was looking forward to free companys a lot, hoping to make one for my LS, having bank, housing etc together. Seems pointless if there is a maximun 8 members for it.