Free Company QoL

I personally wish that, as the leader of a large FC, I could atleast view when my members joined the FC so that I don't have people leaving because they've been in the FC for a long time and not been ranked accordingly, or to celebrate anniversaries.

I found this post on Reddit from 2 years ago. I'm really surprised that the Devs never picked up on it. https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme...fc_management/

I'd love to see what everybody else thinks about this and what other FC QoL ideas you all have.

Right now, Free Companies kinda are in a bad spot. Linkshells have greatly diminished their utility and as a community hub, thus I tend to see more people in LSs than in FCs now. I would love to see something to make people want to consolidate and make larger FCs but I don't see that happening. Till then, we will see FCs with an average of 3 to 6 people.

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Originally Posted by Shijiro

I personally wish that, as the leader of a large FC, I could atleast view when my members joined the FC so that I don't have people leaving because they've been in the FC for a long time and not been ranked accordingly, or to celebrate anniversaries.

I found this post on Reddit from 2 years ago. I'm really surprised that the Devs never picked up on it. https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme...fc_management/

I'd love to see what everybody else thinks about this and what other FC QoL ideas you all have.

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My thoughts? I don't have a problem with making join dates part of member information but rank shouldn't be based on how long someone has been in a FC. It should be based on what they contribute to it. I wouldn't regret losing a member who's contributed nothing but feels entitled to greater privilege than those who do contribute.

But it's up to you to run your FC the way you want.

One thing I'd like to see is officer short notes, for tracking things like which characters belong to the same player. Most of the players in our FC have more than one character in it and it can be a pain remember which character is which player.

While I'm by no means against the idea, couldn't those people just remind you of the promotion they are due? Or do you expect that some would lie and try to get a higher rank than they deserve? It seems a little entitled to just up and leave because of a forgotten promotion.

Maybe the problem is that people are treating FC ranking hierarchy like 'career positions' in a corporation. Maybe they need to treat it more like a forum such as reddit. Everyone uses reddit or other forums, but not everyone is a Moderator.. if that makes sense.

I've been wishing for this myself! I don't get particularly fancy with ranks, but we do have an 'entry-level' rank that I'd like to keep people at for a couple of weeks until I'm sure they're not just in the FC to grab loot and run.
The problem is, I'm terrible with names, and there's no practical way to tell the 'new member' who has been there two days from the one that joined two months ago.

It would be nice when someone joins it would mention who invited them. It's a bit awkward when there's a new face and you're just "Heeeeey....youuuuuuuu." If it was Billy Bob invited Jim Bean to the Free Company at least that's a conversation starter. "Oh hi, you're Billy Bob's friend? Nice to meet you."

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Originally Posted by Shijiro

I personally wish that, as the leader of a large FC, I could at least view when my members joined the FC so that I don't have people leaving because they've been in the FC for a long time and not been ranked accordingly, or to celebrate anniversaries.

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You still can keep track of joining date somewhere else, as a spreadsheet just to say an example.

On a side note, if a member doesn't even ask an officer why he didn't get a rank, but just leaves... well... IMHO you did lost nothing.

There is a workaround. If you feel they deserve higher rank then friend them. You can track how long you've been friends in-game when you group them in your friends list. Not sure if the friendship counter resets if you unfriend and refriend them again. Just leave the newcomers on the lowest rank before you think of friending them.

For me it's not just about ranking, that is only one small example. The FC i lead has had several leaders since 2016, it has over 250 members in it and many members leave the game and come back after long breaks, so it'd be extremely difficult, if not impossible for me to compile such a huge spreadsheet of information. I'm extremely focused on my FC members happiness and feeling of belonging within the game. I would personally have multiple uses for such QoL features.

Things like this are some of the things 14 doesnt have that was standard across MMO's for a decade before it launched.

That we dont have a join date, last logon time and date (just an X hours ago format that isnt at all accurate), notes field (for everyone to use and only viewable by them) and officer notes field (which is either public or only viewable by certain ranks) is mind-boggling.

That you cant sort the FC window by Alphabetical, Rank, Last login, Class, or Location is even worse, and then add on that you cant access this while in an instance...


Its needed an overhaul since it launched, basically.

I like all the QoL suggestions here and in the reddit. To add a couple, I'd really like for us to be able to queue actions so they automatically activate when the old ones expire. Our FC is small enough that sometimes it falls that there aren't any officers online to activate the actions, which is fairly annoying.

It would also be nice if we could have a clearer Alt tag so when you check someone new you know they're really so-and-so's alt and not an actual new person.

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Originally Posted by Hyperia

Right now, Free Companies kinda are in a bad spot. Linkshells have greatly diminished their utility and as a community hub, thus I tend to see more people in LSs than in FCs now. I would love to see something to make people want to consolidate and make larger FCs but I don't see that happening. Till then, we will see FCs with an average of 3 to 6 people.

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This kind of describes where my headspace is at currently with FC's. I've been a part of a few small-to-medium sized FC's in FF14 but sadly, every single time it's like a ticking time-bomb. They all start out friendly, in high-spirits, everyone getting along like close friends (even though you are all strangers). It's only a matter of time though until that one officer begins to start drama with someone they don't like. Or that one key member begins talking about politics every day out of nowhere. Or the Static's main healer just decides to become some totalitarian figure.

I gave up on it all and just made a solo FC, getting it to Rank 8 in under a week. I socialize enough in my Linkshells and oddly enough, I feel like that Linkshell's purpose often keeps people from getting "too friendly" or "unprofessional". I don't really need to hear you venting about your extended relatives in my videogame chat. I just need to know if you are ready to do this content together lol.

P.S. Having a solo FC also allowed me to get a private FC house in wards that are currently locked for solo player purchase. Win-win.