FC Airships leave out most players?

[Sebasto]

Sure, everyone can help build them, and that's great, but it looks like airships are ultimately yet another toy the Free Company leadership gets to play with, and no one else.

This is very disappointing for those of us who are not leaders!

Don't get me wrong -- my FC is the best and I love them, and I am happy to help with the construction, but I do feel like SE has some strange priorities, putting so much effort and hype into a new feature that 90 percent of the player base will never fully experience or appreciate.

I know there's going to be more to FC airships in 3.1, but even then, I'm betting it will be more for leaders than everyone else. The rest of us will be allowed to participate and do the work, and only the leaders will get to play with the interesting bits.

[AriaEnia]

Well, maybe you can start your own FC. With you as the leader, so you can have airships to play with. It's the leaders play thing, yes, that's because they have been building the FC from zero, so I guess they can have the airships.

[Echoloc]

same thing w/ the garden, unless they let you, or give out stuff, you are out of luck.

[Nalien]

I know there's going to be more to FC airships in 3.1, but even then, I'm betting it will be more for leaders than everyone else. The rest of us will be allowed to participate and do the work, and only the leaders will get to play with the interesting bits.

Doubt it. Free Company leader will be able to pick where you go, but you'll all probably be needed for the content on the floating islands airships are meant to make accessible in 3.1, with the exception of perhaps the gathering nodes that are there. Depends how access to the islands works though, if it is a simple matter of sending the airship there, then everyone can port there, I see no problem.

Do you really think you're missing out on much though? Currently it is effectively the same as Retainer Ventures, it's not the most thrilling piece of content. Arguably that could mean everyone should get to have a go, but then that creates its own problems. Either an airship can be in use for multiple people (leader sends it one way, you send it another, somehow it does both), or it continues to work like it currently does and you start getting annoyed at the member camping it. Would have to be the later, why? Supply. Same thing with gardening. If everyone could send the same airship off and reap the rewards, the items would lose their value. If everyone could garden, those items would lose their value.

[Culfinrandir]

If you're a crafter then it seems you're SOL if you're in a FC where you have no say or access to the rare goodies brought back on the airships. Especially when you see the larger numbers an expedition can bring back in comparison to any other method.

Unfortunately, I warned this would happen when they first announced FC only ships. It's really only accessible to the four top people of your FC. Unless they trickle down to rewards, still, you're likely to get no say in what is crafted, when and where is explored.

[Sebasto]

same thing w/ the garden, unless they let you, or give out stuff, you are out of luck.

I can buy my own home and have a garden.

Workshops and airships require a free company. It's entirely different.

[Sebasto]

Do you really think you're missing out on much though? Currently it is effectively the same as Retainer Ventures, it's not the most thrilling piece of content.

You may not think it's thrilling, but most of us understand that retainers are hugely important, especially for a crafter. They are not just important; they are vital.

[Nyonmyan]

I don't think that literally everyone should be allowed to do airship content, but I do believe that it should depend less on FC leaders.

Let's say you're an endgame crafter with everything maxed out, you have a mansion (opposed to FCs small house) and all mats for the ship. Yet, you have to choose between your FC and airships because you're not childhood friend or a girlfriend of some dude.
Kinda silly.

My solution is to let those who own rooms/personal houses an opportunity to make airships, provided that they will have to contribute the same amount of materials.

Maybe limiting max personal airship count to 1, to promote FC teamwork and stuff.

[Nalien]

You may not think it's thrilling, but most of us understand that retainers are hugely important, especially for a crafter. They are not just important; they are vital.

Retainers sure are, for inventory space though, I don't think their ventures are, though. Outside something wonderful like "OMG I never have to farm shards/crystals again!", they're hardly vital. Most of the rare rewards from retainer ventures are either minions or odd materials like floss silk, which are mostly used for glamour/furniture IIRC. So far airships seem no different to me, though perhaps their rewards are more significant...

Curious, what kinds of rewards are we seeing from airships? What rewards are Free Company leaders hoarding that you'd like, exactly? Might be worth remembering that it is still early access and very few people have been focusing on things like gathering, what might seem extremely rare right now might be tomorrows Darksteel Ore...

[Culfinrandir]

We don't know all the rewards but pictures from the Live Letter (I think it was) showed how on one trip there was a return of something like 30+ high level materia plus other things. I know that some rare leathers and bamboo (sheets?) are turning up too. However, as I have no access to FC airships I'll not get to know what is coming back, unless that information is available to everyone.