Grand Company Rankings

Greetings fellow adventurers!

I've created this thread with the intent of gathering some answers to a few questions that I (and I'm sure my fellow lore-mongers and completionists) have pondered.

Here's the details:

- We all know each GC has its own rank, that currently caps out at "Second Flame/Storm/Serpent Leiutenant, but I heard a rumour that if you rank up in one GC you can switch to another, then if you were to switch back to the original GC, your old rank would still be intact, can anyone confirm if this is true? (preferrably with a source)

- Since PvP rank is tied to your GC, does the above also apply to said PvP rank? (please source if possible)

- Similar to the first point, are any GC seals you may have had saved for when/if you switch back the original GC? Or are the seals you had converted from one type of seal to the other? Or are they simply forfeit? (please source if possible)

- If everything mentioned above is saved, then can anyone tell us what is actually lost from switching your GC then switching back? (other than the 30 day, soon to be 15 day, lockout)

I would love to max my ranks and experience the stories for all 3 GCs (with the exception of PvP because getting to rank 40 on all 3 would just be far too tedious and I'm not the type who does win-trading). However! If this means forfeiting all my progress on my current GC... then I will stick with my Immortal Flames.

Any information provided is greatly appreciated, and info with sources... even more so.

Thanks! ^_^

You can switch GCs with very little penalty. Ranks, seals, everything remains. You cannot use exclusive GC gear with the new GC though and you cannot access your old PVP ranks unless you go back to that GC.

If you check the achievements and you're into that sort of thing, you can see it is encouraged (and required for completionists) to switch GCs and do as much as possible in each one.

Several people in my FC have repeatedly changed GCs with no consequence.

1) Yes, your GC ranks are separate from each GC, but when you return to one you've already worked on, your old rank from that GC is retained
2) Yes, your PvP ranks are separate from each GC, but when you return to one you've already worked on, your old rank from that GC is retained
3) Your seals are all separate currency between the 3 GCs and are all retained. Once you switch to another GC, you'll still see your old GCs seals in your currency tab, even though they're impossible to use (unless you switch back to that GC). I am currently in the Maelstrom, and I can still view the exact number of Twin Adder seals that I have in my currency tab.
4) It costs 50k gil to switch GCs, and there's the lockout as you've mentioned. You also need to be a certain rank to switch GCs, so if you're switching to a brand new GC, you'll also have to re-do the rank quests and the hunting logs for that particular GC (however once they're done for a GC, even these are retained if you switch back). You also cannot equip (or even show glamours for) GC gear that is not from the GC you're currently a part of. You can't even equip barding from a GC other than your current one (though if you already had the barding equipped, the game doesn't force you to remove it).

There is no "story" to experience with GCs right now. To rank up, they all have you go do Dzemael Darkhold and Aurum Vale and that's all there is to it.

Source: Myself. Three months ago I switched to the Twin Adder because I had already got the 500k seals achievement under the Maelstrom banner, so I thought I'd try another GC while I was racking up tons of seals spamming Atma FATEs. However, once I got back into doing some PvP, I switched back to the Maelstrom.

Very helpful, thanks a ton, guys! :)

On a side note, you can see all the other GC ranks that will be available in the future if you click on the GC icon in your profile. :D