Is the concept of a FC already dead?

[Mostfowl]

Why is it you come on these forums or some other game site forums and so many ppl complain about not having a fc or a raid group but then its impossible to get these ppl in a fc or a raid group? There are tons of ppl running around our server (sargatanas) with no fc and who simply don't want/need to join one.

We have a fc that is recruiting, and we tried to set up a raid group twice and no one bites or they join for a day then drop. Most responses to recruitment we get from ppl are just those who want to absorb our fc into theirs, which isn't going to happen as we like our fc and its few members.

We don't have a house yet which is the biggest detriment to our fc as no one really wants to join a homeless fc but with prices as absurd as they are and only a couple ppl working on getting the gil its such a slow crawl that will break more fcs than help. It's a catch 22.

So are all servers like this?

We want to have fun and enjoy all the content the game has to offer but its so hard to get things going and sitting in pf for hours trying to put a coil/ex group together (you know since half the pt drops after 1 wipe) just makes it hard to complete a lot of the content.

Not to mention you can gear yourself the same ilvl-wise by simply doing dailies and st on your own time, so why bother tackling content before it gets echo nerfed.

I don't mean to beat a dead horse here but we never had issues like this in other games. We don't expect overnight success of course but there is a least one big, glaring issue working against burgeoning fcs...housing.

So with pf, df and large established fc's taking up the ppl in need of a fc and simply making it easy to get by without one, is the concept of a FC already becoming something dead?

Not upset or anything of the sort, just confused as to the direction things are going...

[HakuroDK]

I blame Log Horizon.

But seriously, there are a handful of folks who believe that, and that's fine. But for the most part, FCs are usually very handy to be a part of, so long as your interests and the interests of the FC in question are aligned.

[MilesSaintboroguh]

People tend to want to find either a large FC or one that is at least active. Nothing disinterests people more than a FC that does nothing or one that has certain people hogging the controls for FC benefits.

[Bucy]

FCs are what we have. I love my FC, but it is not easy building raid groups. Not 1 of our raid groups is full FC members. Mine is 7/8 FC members, and some of our members are still looking for raid groups.

Duty Finder and Party Finder are helpful mechanisms, but only encourage pugging. Static raid groups are the best way to address challenging content, and we all should like and want challenging content.

I'd like to see 3 things happen to help FCs.:
1. An in-game ability to merge FCs. A merge petitioning system, with a majority vote. This would make it seemless and not require every1 be online at the same time.

2. Also an ability to sell a house. It is ridiculous that we can't sell a house. The investment is too great to lose, and IRL people sell homes.

3. An in-game raid group former. This would help FCs merge and grow, and take some pressure off FC officers. THE RGFormer would match people by their primary & secondary jobs, availability, & languages.

[Cynthis]

I agree that the housing becomes a catch-22. You need quite a few players to raise the ridiculous amounts of gil but you can only get a lot of players if you have a house. SE really need to fix their servers and make it a lot easier to get FC housing.

[LadyVal]

On Siren, most people are in FCs. It's very rare to encounter someone who is solo. Here it's more of a mindset that FCs are the easiest way to progress. :P

I personally won't join an FC until they say if we can buy a personal mansion or not with personal housing and I'm in a very small minority.

[Taruranto]

Maybe if raid weren't 8 men exclusive clubs.

[Kanadiana]

Maybe if raid weren't 8 men exclusive clubs.

I also believe this to be the case. In my FC we have 2 static Coil groups. It gets weird, because it feels like there is 2 separate FC's in one and then there is the few who dont have a static yet. So the outsiders kind of see it as 2 clique's and they are the minority. I wish they would put in raids on the scale of Crystal Tower but more difficult and can form your own alliances with FC members. One day. One day.

[Anapingofness]

Honestly, it's less about the house and more about the commitment.
It's tough getting eight people to commit to a static. My FC has been trying to set up a solid raid group for a while now. We can get about 4-6 ppl from FC on average, despite the fact that more than that have expressed interest in raiding.
Therefore, what we adopted was 'first come first' serve priority. It means that those who want to progress but don't want to commit to a static can now join in on raids if they are available. My FC is small enough for that to work and for the most part we manage the full 8. If we can't get people we look to our FLs and PF.

That being said, it can be really tough for a small FC to build funds to buy a house. When we were gathering funds for our house, the first thing I did was discuss this w/ the FC. I told them that if we wanted a house, everyone had to contribute. However, that didn't mean going broke. What it did mean was all of us working together. The more of us that worked, the faster we would get the house.
We got ours right after the patch when they lowered housing prices.

I would run weekly Piestieskin Map runs. The direct gil drops from those runs would go into FC chest for housing. So the people who came with us had to be willing to deposit that gil into FC chest.
After that, I left it up to individual players to donate money. On an average, I would donate 10-15k a day. (I made sure to have above 100k on me at all times)
If you do Challenge Log and DF, being able to donate 10-15k a day is not unreasonable. ^^

As far as recruitment goes... Personally, I've never openly recruited. I started the FC w/ a few friends. Then, they decided to invite their friends or other people they have met online and slowly our FC grew.
I like my FC small despite the challenges it brings because it means that I can have the type of play environment that I want out of FFXIV. ^^

You'll find more people OP! Don't get discouraged! -feeds cookies-

[Kiara1]

2. Also an ability to sell a house. It is ridiculous that we can't sell a house. The investment is too great to lose, and IRL people sell homes.

This so much!
I created my own fc for the house, so me and my friend got us to rank 8 andI bought the house for my own money only. Now I got 2 new members recently and I've been lucky with drops so I got a lil rich. So was planning on getting a medium house. On my server it vosts about 12 mil gil, which isnt that much, but if I could sell my current house I'd get the new house faster.