Grand Company squadrons

[Solarra]

Erm...have they said it was to be dungeon content? The screenshots I saw looked too much like the WoW garrison follower windows (down to using company seals to pay for squadron missions instead of garrison resources) to make me think you can take them to dungeons.

Agreed, this looks horribly like the garrison missions from WoW - Platoon UI Screenshot
I saw that and my heart sank. I played WoD, levelled a couple of garrisons started a third and did those things up to the point where they introduced the shipyard and then I quit the game, probably for good. If there is one idea I'd never want them to copy from WoW, this is it.
Hopefully, there is more to it than the WoW follower missions. If not I hope the rewards are either mediocre or available through other means. I've nothing against them introducing side-content that people might enjoy but since I loathed the garrison missions I hope you can leave it alone without severely gimping your progress.

[Brady672]

I only hope you can customize the people in your squadron like your retainers. All this glamour gear can't go to waste!

[Laerune]

I realy hope we can do contents with these characters not some menu-based feature like the airship.

[Lone-wolfe-02]

Is not looking forward to it because then i can't be disappointed.

[loreleidiangelo]

Agreed, this looks horribly like the garrison missions from WoW - Platoon UI Screenshot
I played WoD, levelled a couple of garrisons started a third and did those things up to the point where they introduced the shipyard and then I quit the game, probably for good. If there is one idea I'd never want them to copy from WoW, this is it.
Hopefully, there is more to it than the WoW follower missions. If not I hope the rewards are either mediocre or available through other means. I've nothing against them introducing side-content that people might enjoy but since I loathed the garrison missions I hope you can leave it alone without severely gimping your progress.

Holy crap, it really is a garrison mission clone. Really hope this is skippable content as well. It'll be fun for people who never dealt with garrisons (maybe), but I don't feel like doing that nonsense twice in two different games.

[Natashio]

Now..you have to if not by now, realize we are playing a WoW in Final Fantasy clothing. That will make it sink in a bit better.
But oh my...;>

[LystAP]

Holy crap, it really is a garrison mission clone. Really hope this is skippable content as well. It'll be fun for people who never dealt with garrisons (maybe), but I don't feel like doing that nonsense twice in two different games.

First thing I thought of was Garrisons. In WoW, you had a Garrison Follower accompany you, but those were rare and unique individuals. From the summary, I think SE still intends it to be the precursor to bringing them into a dungeon. They probably think they can push back that content, while people level their 'garrison followers'.

I want a group full of lalas. For no reason but that I can.

[Colino]

They had 14 hours on stream, I think it would have been nice if they spent 10 minutes out of that clarifying how this works and what we can expect.

[myahele]

They had 14 hours on stream, I think it would have been nice if they spent 10 minutes out of that clarifying how this works and what we can expect.

Yeah, they took the time to explain that new cross hotbar feature. Would have been nice if they talked for a few minutes about the GC squadrons.

[Nalien]

Erm...have they said it was to be dungeon content?

It's been implied;

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...st-(2016-04-12)

There were some setbacks in the planning stage, but we're expecting to have this ready for Patch 3.4 as of the current schedule. However, I cannot make any promises as to whether they will be able to enter dungeons alongside you at the time they are added to the game. We're also planning to unlock the first lieutenant rank for Grand Companies at the same time. These ranks will not be ready for Patch 3.3, although there will be new Grand Company equipment.

Seems like a "Please look forward to it!" kinda deal, whether that sits in the same pile as FC Primal Summoning or not though... I believe the initial concept came up as "Crystal Tower is dead, what if you had a group of NPCs to get you through it?", then it was "You can take them in dungeons maybe", and now it's devolved to Garrisons...

I'd hope squads are just going to be built upon over time... SE really needs to put Hamlet Defense back in the game... These squads could have some amazing synergy with Hamlet Defense... You send them off to do stuff in the preparation phase, and that impacts the enemy strength, defense strength, NPC levels, etc., during the actual fight... Heck, if they keep Hamlet Defense as an instance instead of going full Besieged, they can even have the parties squad actually show up in the battle...