Best Ways to Recruit for FC's

So as I've stated in previous threads, I'm a member (and evidently soon-to-be Leader) of the Free Company "PGS Corps" in Adamantoise. Currently our FC is tiny, only 5 or 6 members. I'm curious as to the best way to start recruiting members. We are all still fairly new players, some playing off-and-on since launch, and others (like me) only playing since the beginning of the month, and we are all still learning the game's in and outs.

So how do you all recruit for your respected FC's? Do you just /shout in areas in game? Post here on the forums? Use some kind of separate website? I'm just curious as if I'm going to be the leader of the FC, I'd like to make it the best it can be.

Which brings me to another, off subject, question. How can I be a good FC Leader? I've never been a guild-leader or anything of such before, so I'm not sure the best way to go about it. Our current FC Leader simply says that he see's I have much more passion for the FC than he does and have thought about ideas and plans for it much more than he has, so he is promoting me and stepping down to a lower rank. At first I was a little overwhelmed, but eventually accepted....Now I just have to figure out how to lead and help my FC.

Always..I repeat, always recruit with a private tell to the person of interest using the player finder. I have pretty much recruited my entire fc myself with this method. Players may not always reply and lots will decline, but many will be thankful for the invite request and not a blind invite.
Always have an short, polite intro from yourself and your fc.
Lastly, use proper english and be well spoken. No one likes bad spelling and grammar when getting a tell from a total stranger.
Good luck with your new fc!

If you're going to be leader, one thing you need to keep in mind is what you want your FC to do. Since you're small, you may be better off focusing on obtaining people that are still new to the game and having them grow with you. Most times you'll get someone that will actually stick around rather than jump ship once they get what they want and move on.

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Originally Posted by Rhime

Always..I repeat, always recruit with a private tell to the person of interest using the player finder.!

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Thanks so much for the advice! I was curious though; how would one use the Player Finder to recruit folks? Would that be essentially like cold-calling them at random and asking them to join?

Do random dungeons with the dungeon finder and invite people that you find pleasant to play with. This is beneficial because:

1) You know the person a little bit that you are inviting
2) They know you a little bit and are more likely to respond
3) ???
4) Profit

Guild Counsel, most specifically this article, offers some pretty decent advice to help you get started. Just keep in mind that the articles are generalized to the larger guild audience so the discussed strategies and tactics should be tweaked to fit the current circumstances of your FC.

Anyway, active recruitment is always necessary for a healthy guild. Your recruitment method will depend on the type of FC you want to make. I would not suggest sending random invites or spamming messages though as your group will begin to resemble a massive pug group and your FC may eventually lose its cohesiveness as a result.

To start off though, two successful guilds I've been involved in started from a linkshell group, both formed relatively late compared to other guilds. One began as a static group for Bahamut Coil, while the second started as a teaching/network linkshell to help lowbies do dungeons, learn the game, and find other players to form FCs.

In both cases, members were initially invited in to the linkshell for the activity involved. If they had fun with the group and enjoyed chatting with them, they stayed. Eventually, a number of them came to like the group so much they asked or were invited to join the associated FC. In that regard, the linkshells help to serve as a springboard to help you see a player's relationship and disposition towards the existing FC members before joining. BTW, both groups now have healthy static raid groups, a bustling fc chat, and are looking to tackle future content.

As to your specific situation, you can cold-call a player. It is not always recommended though as I find players have certain desires they want from the game experience and it can be difficult to identify them or customize your message to them from the info on playerfinder. If you can identify a pressing need for the player (leveling, tackling endgame content, etc.) from some context such as a partyfinder group title or event, it would help you a lot. My teaching LS used a variant on that tactic to find its initial members. We had identified a core problem with the game, which was a huge barrier to lowbie and new mmo players trying to queue up for the early dungeons. When we found a low-level player, we made them a cordial but forward offer that essentially said: do you want to join a group that will help you learn, complete dungeons, and network to find your FC? Or if they were high level, do you want to help lowbie players do dungeons? The forum was also a good source, especially for the latter who were often more established in the game and were harder to identify. A recent trend that's arisen is also to use partyfinders. This was especially useful for my Coil FC to find players that matched the group's needs.

Other FCs advertise, either in PF or on a social media site. Streams are a popular way, especially if you can infuse a personality in to them. Partyfinders are also a good way to find players to invite in to an LS or FC, especially if you use tells after a (hopefully successful) party to tell them how good they are a match for your fc. Admittedly, you could also compliment their perseverance, attitude, and skill in a less-than-successful party too.

Also, if you haven't done it already, consider making a recruitment thread in your server forum. You may be able to snag some people that way as well. A lot of the FC that are advertised on the forums now are mostly hardcore or progression FC. There aren't many "noob" friendly FC with their own threads. Make sure you try and describe what your FC is about as some recruitment threads with "we're recruiting!" do not tell anyone what good it would be to join their FC. You need to try and sell your FC over other ones.

And of course, make sure that your FC advertisement thread is bumped often so people know that you're actually active.

My best advice for you, as your FC is very small, is to gather the members together to discuss and make a decision on what is your shared goal as a FC. You should discuss things like:

- How many members would you like to have
- How do you recruit new members (and who can decide who gets invited)
- What kind of content would you like to do as a group
- Will you have FC events and if you do, who will organise them, will you have set event days, are the events mandatory etc.

I think the most important thing is to be open about what's your plan for the FC and how you are planning to make it come true. And for members it's important to know what they're getting into: what the FC will offer to them and what's expected from then in return. Setting the goals and being open about them helps to ensure the members are similar type of players who get along and are able to progress together.

I can't thank you all enough for all of your helpful advice! I'll put all of this to good use! And hopefully those playing on Adamantoise will hear of the "PGS Corps" soon!

I will suggest also, shouting works very well but keep it simple and clear and, for the love of gods, do NOT spam. >< FC shouted ads are how I've joined every FC I'm in (alts on different servers) and how I have successfully recruited for my FC. Posting cool stuff we do or have done into the server sub-forums has worked very well too. As others have mentioned, having a concept (like casual friendly, lalas and roes only, roleplay, all Culinarians, etc.) for your FC is key and you can put this in your shout.

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Originally Posted by CodeCass

Thanks so much for the advice! I was curious though; how would one use the Player Finder to recruit folks? Would that be essentially like cold-calling them at random and asking them to join?

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You don't ask them to join, but think more of a wave or shaking hands on the street with a brief hello and a polite conversation. You'll pretty much know if they're into chatting if they respond positively. You'll know if it's a good time to discuss recruitment...:)