Will Grand Companies ever get an update?

with how they're spreading their focus around to different things in this expac it's my hope that grand companies get an update. new ranks would be nice, as would new maelstrom/adder/flame armor and weapons

One can hope at least I hope GC gets some love with some updates. But honestly, I also wish the GCs had their own separate questline/story that focus more on the story/lore of the city-state they were in and Ishgard had a GC

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Originally Posted by MsMisato

One can hope at least I hope GC gets some love with some updates. But honestly, I also wish the GCs had their own separate questline/story that focus more on the story/lore of the city-state they were in and Ishgard had a GC

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Let me join a Temple Knight GC please.
I love the idea of a long side story exploring each city-state's story and problems.
Maybe once Ishgardian restoration is concluded they will do something like that?

I'd love to see an expansion or at least continuation of the idea. If we could become progress though the guard corps in Kugane, I'd be very happy.

I mean, I guess so?

The ranks are all in the game, as you can check on your GC page in your stats it lists out all the ranks even ones above you that haven't been released to players yet.

Really, the big thing is all about "When". It seems to be a low priority thing for them, given how little expansion GC's have gotten the past few years. Only getting a few new glamour items and Squadron updates.

Would also be nice to have access to Temple Knights GC as well as help out with the Doman Guard. Given how instrumental we've been in aiding them already, I could see us getting a pass to be a part-time worker.

Please for the love of god allow me to make multiple special deliveries at once. Or at least make it a quick process just like selling items, instead of getting this "DELIVERY COMPLETE" message and delay every damn time you deliver 1 piece.

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Originally Posted by Rilifane

Let me join a Temple Knight GC please.
I love the idea of a long side story exploring each city-state's story and problems.
Maybe once Ishgardian restoration is concluded they will do something like that?

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Ishgard never needed a grand company, as it had a standing army. The other city states did not, which is why the grand companies were formed.

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Originally Posted by Valkyrie_Lenneth

Ishgard never needed a grand company, as it had a standing army. The other city states did not, which is why the grand companies were formed.

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That much is true but don't forget that things signifcantly changed in Ishgard and it's not far-fetched that the Temple Knights would take on "GC-like" characteristics. Just a relatively short while ago their gates were also barred to outsiders, adventurers extremely unwelcome and the notion of granting someone a home within their walls absolutely absurd.

The Grand Companies are being expanded and updated SLOWLY over time.
I like to think its so they can make and release Content around the new levels in each expansion. So Id like to think we WILL see an update this expansion, just like we got Squadron Command Missions and a new rank and new Glamour and items at some point in Stormblood.

Its been a while since our last update, but it will come.
I think they have a map plan on how they are updating GCs
FCs on the other hand.... lol

I just want that bad ass black long coat we were going to get, but instead we got that captain’s coat. I hope they’ll release that one next.

It does feel like the Grand Companies are lagging behind, but I think lore-wise it was never meant to go past Heavensward considering proximity, and far as I've seen I think not every dungeon is accessible yet which I hope they will work on for the sake of players who need certain dungeons.

I think there was only a few dungeons that their GC-mates shouldn't be able to come with you on concerning certain parts of the story.

I think only Stormblood needs a remedy, and it would require a new type of faction with Kugane.

I think they are relics from 1.0(I cant remember), which is why they are low priority. Yeah its cool having higher rank than the guy that gives you the squadron missions lol.

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Originally Posted by Rasikko

I think they are relics from 1.0(I cant remember), which is why they are low priority. Yeah its cool having higher rank than the guy that gives you the squadron missions lol.

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They are - lore wise they were originally founded by Gridania, Limsa Lominsa and Ul'dah as a way of consolidating their resources (especially manpower) in the wake of Nael van Darnus's renewed aggression towards Eorzea and the summoning of Dalamud. This was because the three citystates did not have actual standing armies, they had little more than militia guards (that were literally sellswords in Ul'dah's case) that obviously were not enough to meet the Garlean threat. So the GCs were formed as the volunteer armies of the three cities, enlisting adventurers who answered the call to arms to defend the realm. After the Calamity, the GCs kind of ended up mostly forgotten, as the player's character started to become more associated with the Scions of the Seventh Dawn and less a soldier in a Grand Company (the player did join the Scion's Sixth Astral Era predecessor the Path of the Twelve in 1.0 as well as a Grand Company upon it's formation, but the Path story was abandoned for the GCs towards 1.0's storyline).

Hence why later added cities such as Ishgard and Kugane do not have GCs - Ishgard is unique in that it has had a fully mobilized military for a thousand years, in that they've never stopped fighting against Nidhogg and the Dravanians (they do have a mercenary/volunteer force in the form of the Convictors, but they're considered little more than riffraff in the eyes of most Ishgardians and are nothing like a GC). And Kugane is neutral in political matters hence it's military refuses to get involved in international affairs.

So I'm afraid you will not be seeing an expansion of the Grand Companies to other cities, the Twin Adders, Immortal Flames and the Maelstrom are pretty much the only three GCs that will be available (Okay, there was that one time a fourth one was formed for a while... but... that did not work out so well...). ;)

As for the squadrons, unfortunately it's technical reasons why the squadron has such a limited amount of dungeons you can take them into - SE has to program the squad's AI for every dungeon they use to handle the mechanics, and it's a time consuming task. So they have only implemented a small number of old ARR/HW era dungeons for them, it's simple pragmatism (this is also why the Trusts are limited to ShB, those the dungeons are specially designed for Trusts, so they're easier to program for).

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Originally Posted by Enkidoh

As for the squadrons, unfortunately it's technical reasons why the squadron has such a limited amount of dungeons you can take them into - SE has to program the squad's AI for every dungeon they use to handle the mechanics, and it's a time consuming task. So they have only implemented a small number of old ARR/HW era dungeons for them, it's simple pragmatism (this is also why the Trusts are limited to ShB, those the dungeons are specially designed for Trusts, so they're easier to program for).

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But the squadron completely ignores every mechanic, so how do they have to be programmed to handle them? They never handle them to begin with.

I'd like some more ranks added. I want an Immortal Flames gunblade.

If getting the squads to work in existing dungeons is too much work, maybe the Guildhest format could be revived? Create some short quirky missions to take your squad on, maybe even add a bit of a randomly generated component to it?

Could be an: attack/rescue/defence mission.
- If defence, then it could take place at: X, Y or Z.
- If it's an attack on Z, then the attackers might be: A, B or C.
- If the attackers are C, then a random mid-mission event might be: F, G or H.

The whole mission system reuses existing assets, maps, mobs, NPCs, etc, and could easily be expanded by plugging more random variables made from yet more recycled assets into it.

I kind of think I'd rather do that anyway, over rerunning Doma Castle again but this time with NPCs instead of players.

Since GC ranks forced you to use Squadrons, I haven't ranked up at all. So unless they remove that requirement, no.

I hope if they do they do something to streamline leveling the Squadron. The missions take far too long for too little reward. It would be nice to have lesser reward hourly options like retainers have.

But really I would hope they just go away from the Squadron idea entirely. It's a bigger block than it has to be to rank up.

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Originally Posted by Tlamila

But the squadron completely ignores every mechanic, so how do they have to be programmed to handle them? They never handle them to begin with.

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I think that's part of the problem. I haven't gone through the list, but for example they can't do Qarn - that might be because they would mindlessly attack the stone heads that need to be manoeuvred into position on the switches.

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Originally Posted by Seraphor

Since GC ranks forced you to use Squadrons, I haven't ranked up at all. So unless they remove that requirement, no.

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Only the last two ranks require you to level squadrons. There's no need to avoid the system entirely.

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Originally Posted by Valkyrie_Lenneth

Ishgard never needed a grand company, as it had a standing army. The other city states did not, which is why the grand companies were formed.

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they could call it the fre--i mean ishgardian foreign legion

I think they are actually close to being good enough, though could use an update indeed.

• Squadron member account increased by 2
• Addition of viera and hrothgar recruits for your squadron
• Squadron level cap increase to 70; add command missions accordingly
• New glamour items
• Hunt mark bills can be updated anywhere via the hunting log (general system update)
• Faster turn-in of junk; don't need the fanfare when I have a few dozen pieces of loot to offload
• Maybe a quick review of the item pool for GC seals; could use desynth items for other crafting disciplines, new food, etc.

Whatever happens I'd just like to ask SE to not give adder pee pee yellow ugly glamour this time around.

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Originally Posted by Leareaux

Whatever happens I'd just like to ask SE to not give adder pee pee yellow ugly glamour this time around.

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Trouble is, yellow is the national colour of Gridania hence it's the colour of all Twin Adder uniforms in some manner (it's the colour of the earth/land). So I'm afraid any future gear released for the Twin Adders will be some shade of yellow, with some khaki/dark green and variations of brown thrown in for good measure.

I could say something about Gridania's taste in colour being 1970's inspired though... but I won't. ;)

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Originally Posted by Iscah

I think that's part of the problem. I haven't gone through the list, but for example they can't do Qarn - that might be because they would mindlessly attack the stone heads that need to be manoeuvred into position on the switches.




Only the last two ranks require you to level squadrons. There's no need to avoid the system entirely.

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And I'm on the 2nd penultimate rank, unable to progress further unless I try to use the awfully clunky and restrictive squadron system.

im hoping when the update comes the hunt related elite gear gets readded into the actual seal shop and maybe add more like it ive had the twin adder elite tanks top and gloves for a very long time always my go to glam for tanks
embrace the awful yellow and bark armor!

While I understand the reasoning behind them potentially not adding something for Ishgard, I think there's opportunity for them to add something to Doma and to Ala Mhigo.

Some things I would like to see for Grand Company updates:
-Changing access to expert delivery to a lower rank. With the way the armory buff works, a lot of the items locked behind ranks and seals are irrelevant by the time you get the chance to buy them.
-More actual items. That the GC stops supplying relevant gear at level 50 seems like a loss. I used a lot of pieces while leveling up my classes/jobs, and I think it could be helpful 51-80.

I think that while there's a certain understandable disconnect between player characters and the Grand Companies (you can't really serve in a GC so much as you say you're affiliated with one and they take your help whenever they can), it's got a lot of potential. They could add more GC-specific 8-man content (a change of pace from raids and primals, perhaps content focused around battles with Garlemald). Actually, it would be interesting if they used the Grand Companies to better integrate the Alliance raids into lore/relevance. It sounds like they're named after the Eorzean Alliance, after all.

Anyway, those are my 2 gil on the matter from the perspective of someone who still hasn't completed ShB MSQ. I like the Grand Companies. I'd like to see them updated.

And I'd also love to be able to change my city-state.

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Originally Posted by Seraphor

And I'm on the 2nd penultimate rank, unable to progress further unless I try to use the awfully clunky and restrictive squadron system.

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You did say you hadn't ranked up "at all".

Honestly, I avoided the system for a long time too because I didn't really understand it, but levelling then up by sending them on missions and training isn't much different to sending out retainers. I just do it when I remember.

And I think you just need to do five dungeons with them to reach captain rank? The three I've done so far seem fairly painless.

Yes plz.. i would love something else to do with my GC certs other than amassing buttloads of ventures. I used to process them into desynth fodder.. now I don't need to since it's now applicable to any gear. Give me a new rank, a new bank of rewards.. SOMETHING.