Difference between Linkshells and Free Companies

I am not quire sure I get this?
We have our own linkshells with our friends etc, why would we want "Free Companies"?

I'm wondering about this, too. Does this mean linkshells are going away and being replaced by free companies?

They haven't said much about player companies for about a year now.

Last they were mentioned, they were described as being larger than linkshells centered which can be leveled up and feature housing (estates) and things of that nature.

That way several linkshells can belong to a company, vie for power, create and break alliances, send spies into other companies, etc.

I didn't hear anything of free companies until you mentioned it.. but from the sound of it, it looks like it could be something akin to what Guild Wars has. You have guilds and then alliances which are made of guilds. I don't know what such a setup would allow for in FFXIV though.

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Originally Posted by Sephrick

They haven't said much about player companies for about a year now.

Last they were mentioned, they were described as being larger than linkshells centered which can be leveled up and feature housing (estates) and things of that nature.

That way several linkshells can belong to a company, vie for power, create and break alliances, send spies into other companies, etc.

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I hope not. Given the high-schoolish nature of a lot of in-game interactions, that sounds like too much drama.

It was something featured in the early spec / publicity about the game; there was never too much information released about it, but basically, "larger than one particular linkshell, can work together towards specific ends, really big, world-affecting stuff like private boats and airships". Twelve alone know how much of this will actually make it into the game eventually, but it's good to see the early-spec stuff start to be discussed again after a year of ass-covering and fixes to make the game playable.

this was talking about a LONG time ago, back at the initial stages of the redesign. It's going to be like a group of players that can share the same storage chest,residence, achievements. It's going to be a competitive way to get people doing the quest so they have #1 ranking on the billboard. I think they were saying that you can even get stuff like magic resist + and exp + bonuses for the whole company.