Making a new FC this hard?

[Yumi_umi]

@ chinpo
:/ i suppose but if ppl can get all butt crazy about endgame and coil, y not for fc stuff? Lol
And yea, ppl leave because life happens and their interest drops.
@vynym
There's nothing wrong with being proud and defending ur accomplishments, once i get a house i'll be like tht too
@sieg
Probably so, but that kinda means there's really no room for new fcs expanding
@namasu
No offence but thats how mass fc start out :O . I don't want to become a mass fc like the ones on my server >.>

[Tivia]

Is it too late? no it isn't However you have to know what your goals are and have a realistic way of getting there.

Start by leveraging a linkshell. This is the fastest and easiest way to build up a core group of friends. When you have the numbers to start a FC, start it and notify those in the linkshell. Continue adding people to the linkshell, continue grouping with them and it will grow. As for the FC, you have to have a specific reason and goal. If it just to be a casual group of friends, be honest there is no reason for a FC when a LS works just fine for that. If you want to be end game, build the FC around your group. That is how most of the top FC's ended up where we are. We built our group First, then the FC came after. That also works even if you aren't end game focused and are somewhere between just casual friends and end game. Build the group first, establish a FC around that static group and go from there. Now if you aren't looking to have a static group or anything like that..well again reference my comments about the LS being the same thing.

Hope this helps and good luck.

[Vynym]

/snip

I think this is logically sound advice, however, in practice this late in the game it's not very practical in application (no offense intended). This is *exactly* what our group did. We started as scatter friends. Built a linkshell. From there, developed the free company around our raid group. But sadly, it's pretty much still just our raid group because we can't seem to grow any further. We've tried everything from various recruitment posts on various sites, spamming zones with catchy recruitment messages (not the standard blah blah rank 8 blah house type), we pug spots in coil sometimes to meet new people, recruit in PF, and we even have hosted "no experience newer lvl 50 coil runs" in an effort to meet new raidable people, teach them the ropes in coil, get them some gear, and hopefully entice them into joining. Still, no luck at growth.

While it would seem logical if you follow that advice, and it IS logical (in theory), and it may very well have worked in the past or works for your fc, it doesn't cut it for most.
The first question I'm asked 99.9% of the time is "How many active people do you have?" While numbers IS important, it doesn't determine the worth of a free company or its members. But so many DO use that as a gauge to measure an fc's worth, which creates a catch 22 for a lot of us. We can't get/keep members with low numbers, but we can't gain in numbers without having the numbers in the first place. Crazy. If there were more "fresh meat" to net from, maybe this would improve, I dunno. I could theorize all day.

But here's what I know FOR SURE:
The people that we DO have in our little FC are dedicated. They work hard. They are skilled. They are loyal. Honestly, it's kind of a blessing, this whole struggle to recruit because the members we DO retain are real keepers. The ones that jump ship to become another warm body in a larger FC weren't the sort we would want to have in our house anyway. We're looking for invested people, not those that just want to use us for personal gain/progress, but real team players willing to work for common goals. So, in essence, we win in the end for all the recruiting struggles. Having said all that, I DO wish we could snag more of the "right" sort of person.

[Namasu]

snip

While it's great that you have a set goal on creating a super tight knit small FC built around your original raid group, I think you just have to accept the difficulty that comes with it. I feel that most players want to stay social to some degree and joining a slightly larger FC is just what they need. The more decent players they can group with during their play time, the more they will feel committed to staying.

Suppose you recruit the "right" sort of player, if their playtime doesn't match well with the FC over all, they will probably have a hard time completing game content and more inclined to leave. I've told many of my own FC members that if they really need to leave the FC to join a static I would not hold it against them. It's just unfair for them if I hold back their game experience by tying them down just because they are in my FC.

I know you don't want to merge but really think you just need to find another tight knit group that are willing to get absorbed into your FC so there is enough players to support the current and future content. Try to join other LS and network your way to find potential members. There's also no shame of trying to snag away good players from dying FC as well. You won't accidentally turn your FC into a zerg group unless you really want to. Just do what you always do and take it slow until people come to you.

[Yumi_umi]

But its kinda ridiculous as its only been what, 7/8 months into launch?
Is this the kind of population i am to expect in this server for years to come?
Making an LS seems out of my interest as i have done a few before.
King mog farm ls
New 2.1 ls
Social chat ls
Coil ls
The only ls that was the most successful before dying was the coil ls.
Well because it was coil....
Every other ls died within a few days / a week max.
Ppl were either busy or offline, as there would only be a few online each time.
So its like all the quality players were snagged during the few months after launch.
Alls left r players who r just jumping fc to fc in hopes of progressing further in their goals.
tough life lol tough life in ff

[Wulfyn]

The FC I formed with friends is small, 7 of us with 5 of us being most active and the 7th member being a new player to FF. We managed to round up the gil for a small house on a prime plot in Lavender Beds. Then we managed to get the permit with in a week. Most of the gil was from out of my and my wife's crafting. A portion came from friends. It is possible. We will probably never become a large FC, as it seems that most of the types of members we don't want gravitate towards the bigger FC's. Personally we don't want members who are user's and don't contribute crap to the FC other than drama.

Our one friend had previously been in 2 other bigger FC's that ended up not panning out. Big FC's aren't always cracked up to be what someone may expect so keep chippin away towards your goal.

[Yumi_umi]

There's only so much will and energy that can come from all this. Who knows perhaps SE will make an MB fc recruitment type of thing that will allow u to post ur fc and details about it. So like u can look up FCs through the search bar and then use filters like if it will include
-endgame
-role playing
- being casual
The stuff on ur info page.
Then u can narrow ur searches down by choosing opened or closed recruitment.
If they add something like this i'll be so happy lol

[Wulfyn]

I should have added at the beginning we had recruited other new players, some left for FC's that could offer them xp buff etc I imagine. Others haven't logged on for over 100 days so they got discharged. To us mass numbers doesn't always make a FC the best. Quality over quantity. Besides it is early in this FF's life and members are free to pursue their goals. Wanting to do end game shouldn't require one be in a big FC even if some think so. At worse in a big FC all you are is just another number. Kudos to those who formed bigger FC's and actually help out all their members.

The only thing I can see going bad about a FC MB is the fact that people can be really stupid in what they put in their search comments, party finder is one example. Always see someone in party finder that isn't actually looking for a party but has a stupid comment for party finder.

[Symari]

Brotips from a long time leader:

- Be yourself: If you really believe in building your FC, have a clear goal in mind for what you want and stick to it. That will fall under the 'niche.' One that tries to bounce around, aiming to please everyone with completely different goals, is going to have identification issues and will likely lose members quickly. The only way to realistically sustain that kind of FC is to have a very large one. Know what you want, Know what your members want, If they click, you'll be fine.

- Be social: You need to be social and put yourself out there. A lot of the members in my FC have come in purely because we have been ourselves out and about, they join because they like what they see. They will only see it if you show it, and shouts only do so much.

- Be active: Absorbing and/or joining smaller fledgling FC into a linkshell is a good idea, and shows people you are actively looking to grow. Not only do you increase the pool of people you can draw from, sometimes you can pick up people that way. Discussing the possibility of joint runs and joined events is perfect. You get to run with new people and see how well you mesh.

I wouldn't advise hostile takeovers, or merging one with a lot tied to it (a house) or forcing the idea down peoples throats.

- Be realistic: As a FC leader you need to be active and social, true, but this is probably the biggest one I learned: Don't overdo it. If you are prone to putting in 110% in welcoming members, you need to maintain it.

New recruits and especially new players/younger players are going to expect that all the time. On the flipside, older players are probably going to feel you are trying to hard and will be put off by it.

Most importantly you will probably burn yourself out, and an FC without an active leader core will start to fall off. Don't bite off more than you can chew, remember that you are part of the FC as well and you need to take care of your personal interests.

- Avoid the 'exclusive clique': A leader should be friendly to all members that join, and 'group neutral.' Everyone has friends they prefer to play with, and that's OK, however one of the major reasons people leave my FC is because they are intimidated by our friend circle, and feel they would be unwelcome and not fit in.

You need to make sure they feel welcome in that circle and you need to encourage inclusion, let them know they are valued and they belong. Include people in discussions, let them know their thoughts are desired, even if they don't really have much to say, the option alone is more than enough for some people. Do things outside of the game together, our FC has a Minecraft Server and a Starbound server, we play D3 together, League together, We trade pokemon, battle each other and we watch movies together. Sometimes we just bum in voice chat. Point is: Sharing interests is a good thing, FFXIV brought you together, look outside of the game as well.

- Learn from your mistakes: Everything I have typed above I learned from doing the wrong things and constantly trying to improve myself. As a result, I have an amazing group of friends and a solid FC. I've lost more members than I've gained over the years, but each one that stayed on has been awesome.

Source: Personal experience after sticking my hand in the recruitment fires and leading my FC/Guild/Linkshell/League group for more than 10 years. Also educated in group dynamics and teamwork.

Now I must needs to return to Diablo, there is loot to be had.

[Yumi_umi]

Yeah thanks that makes more sense.
But its just that the population on adamantoise leaves little to no room to expand as most ppl have found homes to live in.
My only regret is not thinking of making an FC back in august or september cuz i was a new player back at launch day.