Looking for Input on How Your FC is Coping

[Dzian]

As for keeping members. This game it is harder then most mmos because people do not need guilds at all to progress, so the loyalty factor is missing. You will lose people during the low periods in patches it is inevitable. People will get bored and log in for 1-2/7 days a week do their weekly progression content, other not as caught up or who want to play more then endgame will log mid/end week and say man this guild is dead the leave. Core issue is in game design...nothing you can do about it really. Been fighting it since ARR launched.

This.

With the games design. Free Companies are nothing more than glorified chat channels pretty much. Everything in the game is done on such a strict design to be done solo pretty much just jumping into the duty finder or raid finder and going whenever. Even v4s can be done in raid finder with absolutely no friends or social connections at all. There is no loyalty or teamwork in the genenral community really, That's why people always say there groups / statics fall apart because once someones got the clear or drop they jump ship to a different group...

The other issue is content in general with the exception of aquopolis or the canals is all built around strict party sizes and compositions which even if you want to do it as a free company often ends up being impossible because you either need 8 people and you've only got 6-7 (you could get a pug or 2 but not always a desirable option cos they might bail as soon as they've got there drop and leave the 6-7 of you in the dirt.) Or on the other hand you need 8 people and you've got 10 that want to do it. So someones gonna be excluded and it's really difficult to make everyone feel included. This is made even more true with some of the loot systems in place. 8 of you clear savage for 2 chests and shuffle around the members for the other 2 and you screw up there loot chests because 6 of you have already cleared.

This game actually promotes anti social and anti inclusive behaviour really because all you ever need is the duty finder. I think this also in part leads to the dubbed toxic behaviour players often complain about. You can be an ass to people and what does it matter the likely hood duty finder will match you with them again is slim to none. at least not in any time frame they'd remember you.

There's also the impatience factor that seems to be prominient with many players these days. Why wait for everyone else to do something when you can go go go right now. In Early ARR this is what pulled many freee companies apart. Some friends said lets work on relics together.. then before long everyones on completely different stages grinding nexus lights while one guy is still trying to do his alexandrite or something... No loyalty, No reason to wait when you can just go off and do it on your own via duty finder...

As much as people may flame it. This is one the biggest things I miss from XI. (pre abbyysea)
The endgame required teamwork and was promoted social connections and inclusiveness pretty much. it built groups and bonds between players.
It really didn't matter if 8 people wanted to go do Appollyon that day or 18 people. You could include everyone one and still make progress. Dynamis and Sky were the same, so were ZNMs and various pop NMs even some HNMs, It really didn't matter how many people you had there was always something you could do together.. if a few didn't turn up you might not to trigger the mega boss that run but you could still work on the next set of pop items together.

Another thing I miss from XI is the playerbase mentality. players were generally much more helpful. We had players doing Temenos even though they needed nothing from it. players doing Appollyon even though they eeded nothing from it. Sky, Einherjar and ZNMs again.
It was more about making the group stroinger as a whole than the player stronger as an individual. where as Xiv is a lot more self entitled whats in it for me kind of mentality.

One of the things players have asked for ever since even before ARR has been for actual content designed for free companies to do working together as a team. even the old idea that freee companies could summon primals was built around this concept of actually working together as a free company and not just a random group of indivuduals all basiacally soloing the same thing. but has never been implemented. free companies are basically then just chat channels...

potd had some hope for this in a very small way but then people went mad and tried to create parties to burn 51-200 in a single session because the idea of those same people coming back next week to work on the next 20-30 floors was laughable...

It's quite ironic really. We live in what is dubbed as the age of social gaming. But it actually more anti social than social. Just because you play with other people doesn't mean you play together. It's kinda like getting on the tube with 50 other people. Your not making a journey together or being sociable. Your just a bunch of people who happen to be going the same way. Games are the same. Your expert roulette isn't 4 people working together it's just 4 people who are going the same way. Which is why no one talks to each other. It's such an anti social player base