Making a new FC this hard?

[Vynym]

Making a new FC this "late" ( 8 months into release ) seems almost too difficult?
Recruiting new players is what i do most of the time and explain to them the ropes of FF14arr and y joining an fc whether it be mine or someone else isn't a bad thing.
But the problem about new players is that usually they jump ship after awhile and bandwagon to a mass fc.
I don't mind this but the thing that bothers me is how are new fcs suppose to expand this "late" into launch?
Feels like a small server where ppl just know ppl and thats it.
No new faces really!

You aren't alone!
I feel much the same way. It's really difficult to get new people in, and once we do, half the time some ridiculously large fc seems to lure the new recruit away. It really does seem like it's a small fishbowl where everyone knows everyone else and there isn't an abundance of new people from which to recruit. I think what frustrates me the most is that often times I hear, "Well you guys are great but there's not a lot of people on all the time." Don't they get that they contribute to that problem by leaving? If even half the people that left for this reason had stuck around just a little while longer, we'd have a really decent sized, active fc. It's my impression that a vast number of existing players just want things handed to them. They don't want to work for anything. They don't want to put in any effort to help an fc grow, just expect the leaders to magically make it happen on their own, and if we can't fast enough they go jump in bed with a group so large they become just another number. Each to his own I suppose. Our rag-tag bunch is happy with each other and work hard to accomplish what we do. I would call that a win on some levels

[Namasu]

snip

As an alternative, why not find other small groups and merge? If both parties discuss the term well and communicate maturely, then you can easily double your group size.

[Vynym]

As an alternative, why not find other small groups and merge? If both parties discuss the term well and communicate maturely, then you can easily double your group size.

Why would I (or any other group for that matter) want to negotiate away all our hard work? We have an FC house that our people busted ass to obtain. I wouldn't just throw that out the window. It's about more than just numbers. I think maybe some other small fcs feel the same way. Being as small as some of us are, we work really hard to get what we have, be it a house, our raid progression, our fc funds, etc etc. If there were a situation where things could "truly" merge and neither party had to essentially throw away or put all their hard work on the line, it would be more appealing. I can't imagine logging in one day and saying, "Hey guys I know you all busted your ass for x, y, and z but we'll be destroying that so we can merge elsewhere." Maybe it's just me being super proud of my crowd, I dunno.

[Namasu]

snip

That's fine and all to try and retain your original FC identity and assets. I'm just saying putting an option out there. I've seen quite a number of small groups out there with a bare FC, no house or anything. You could try to assimilate those types to your FC and there would be no loss for you. I think you just gotta start sending tells and reach out more to people when you are in town. I find that much more effective than shouting FC advertisement since most people treat them as spam and ignore. When 2.2 is released there will be a lot of old players coming back looking for a group as well.