Grand Company platoons

[Nalien]

I've heard this talked about a lot before. As someone that didn't play during 1.0 onwards, can anyone explain what this was and how it worked to me?

Basically, Beast Tribes (Ixali/Kobold/Amalj'aa) attacked Hamlets in 1.x. It was instanced, there was some gathering/crafting gimmick. The preparation phase had players turning in items for some reason (I forget) and when the Beast Tribe actually attacked, you could form a party and enter the instance. It ultimately suffered for the same reasons most of 1.x suffered... With 2.0 I think they could make a lot of improvements to it, making it closer to Besieged from XI... Make it open world for starters, then actually make the Beast Tribes somewhat more fearsome by... Oh, I don't know, summoning their Primal? That's the kinda stuff that would have just melted 1.0s servers, should be possible with 2.0 though... I'd probably settle for the old instanced version, but it really needs to be open world if it's going to have any consequences like Besieged... Your server could fail Besieged, and then you had to go into enemy territory for a special instance to get back the Astral Whatever... That sort of content is sorely missing from XIV... Heck, even if you didn't fail Besieged, NPCs from the area could be taken away and you could go save them... Stuff like that made XI feel less like a video game and more like a world... Right now XIV feels very much like a video game... The open world is practically just a pretty lobby we sit in while waiting on the Duty Finder, way too much instanced content...

If XIV tries its hand at FFXI's Campaign for whatever reason in 4.0 as an example, imagine how all of this could be utilized to further your Grand Company's standing, defending various GC-controlled outposts with other players and their own Platoons or plotting coordinated attacks on enemy strongholds.

HNGHHH, don't tease me man! An XIV version of Campaign is the stuff of dreams... That old Free Company Primal Summoning concept they mentioned forever ago and is long forgotten by people who aren't me? Imagine that sh*t in Campaign! Your server is losing the battle to hold an outpost against Garlemald, when a Free Company walks in a throws Ifrit in their face!

Epic sh*t like that? In XIV?! Nope, have some more FATEs instead... B*tches love FATEs... If 4.0 abandons FATEs and gives me anything close to Campaign, I might die from happiness...

[Grimgrum]

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Haha, yeah, we would finally be like all those heroic NPC commanders like in WotG. They had some seriously cool individuality going on, something that'd be amazing if players can participate in as well for XIV. Rise up in rank, maybe gain the ability to command even more Platoon mates or unlock more diverse customization options, and team up with others forming a small GC battalion of your own. On the enemy side of things, imagine Garlemald busting out some new Legatus at certain intervals to completely whoop unorganized players, prompting greater coordination to make a counter-attack. Stuff like that can definitely take the concept further.

I completely failed to realize Platoon will be 3.4 content, so hopefully it's something they can build upon over a long period of time, reaching its full potential with 4.0. With the way the devs are keeping an eye on PotD, I have hopes for this and other long-term content.