YoshiP's thoughts on GC future and our compiled suggestions

[TheMightyMollusk]

Mini-game turn based simulation like FF tactics with our recruit is what I'm hoping.

Last time they tried a tactical mini-game, we got Lord of Verminion. Be careful what you wish for.

[SaitoHikari]

Last time they tried a tactical mini-game, we got Lord of Verminion. Be careful what you wish for.

Lord of Verminion isn't a tactical mini-game, it's a MOBA/RTS mode that literally nobody asked for.

When we mean FF Tactics, we actually mean something like FF Tactics, a grid turn-based mode.

[Ramesses]

As someone who never played 1.0, it makes no sense why the Warrior of Light has to enlist in a Grand Company (I have no idea if 1.0 explained it better)

-Snip-.

To understand the whole essence of the Grand Companies, you'd have had to understand the lore of the game and also the history of the implementation of the leves system. The leve system itself was always a foundation of the game since 1.0, and the premise was such that players, both hard-core and casuals, could log in, complete them within 20-30 minutes and gain experience points, materials etc.

The NPC squandron system that we now have in GCs is also a revamped and advanced version of the Companion system from 1.0, where we all had one companion that assisted in in battles etc. In actual context, the idea and concept of the Grand Companies date back to hundreds of years during the various Astral/Umbral eras in Eorzea and is part and parcel of Hydaelyn's history. If the WoL was not a part of them then his or her story falls apart at the very seams.

Direct quote from the official lore on Grand Companies:

For thousands of years, Eorzea has been victim to a catastrophic cycle of destruction and rebirth that periodically envelops the realm and threatens all who live upon her soil; each time faced with a tragedy seemingly worse than the last, however, the peoples of Eorzea have found some way to persevere. One method, seemingly going back hundreds of generations, has been the establishment of comprehensive command centers which combine the military, economic, and technological resources of a city-state in order to better prepare it for the coming doom. These are the Grand Companies of Eorzea.

The last recorded emergence of the Grand Companies was nearly 1,500 years ago, at the end of the Fifth Astral Era and the arrival of the great deluge which triggered the dark period known as the Sixth Umbral Era. It was through these companies that the then warring city-states were able to put aside their bitter differences and join together to form an alliance and ensure the realm survived."

[Nalien]

Here's my 2gil;

Add the Gambit System for Squadrons to fix their utterly worthless AI. Farming Gambits would be far more interesting than the "You finished a mission so now they get a straight up stat buff to make up for their worthless AI!" system we currently have... If nothing else, can we have some new folk in the preselected faces we can recruit? The same 60 characters since this content was released... It's about time for some new people to want to be recruited...

Rework Squadrons so the characters are truly random, not semi-random from a select list. Perhaps add random base stats on top so you can see a new recruit and go "This guy is perfect for X", rather than the current "Nope"*infinity I imagine people currently go through trying to get that one specific character they like...

Rework Squadron Missions so that there is a risk of characters falling in the line of duty. How high that risk IDK, but it would be nice to actually bother looking at new recruits again... Surely the whole idea here is that we're managing a squadron, no? I don't really feel like I'm doing that right now... They're just there and I send them out every day to do glorified Retainer Ventures... Doing the training to rework their stats was the closest we ever got to managing them but that's not even really required at all, the Lv50 missions come close but you can still just power through coinflips to get your fake grade 3 FC buff...

Add in a reworked Hamlet Defense to the game as "endgame" Grand Company content. Cut out the Crafting/Gathering aspect (although please rework that into something else) and instead put in Squadrons. A party of, lets say 4 players + a selection of their Squadrons. The goal would be to manage your Squadrons to clear side objectives while you and the other real people focus on dealing with the main stuff and backing up the Squadrons when needed. Perhaps schedule it similar to something like the Gold Saucer Glamour thing, so we have a set day when Hamlet Defense opens up, and the rest of the week to prepare/etc.

The current Squadron Missions can also be involved in this new Hamlet Defense, with players sending their squad off to scout/weaken the enemy/retrieve supplies/etc. which could have an impact on the type of battle that eventually plays out when Hamlet Defense spawns. Perhaps failure, rather than resulting in death, could result in a squadron member being captured, opening up a new mission to go save them. Maybe even make such missions instances rather than Ventures...

Slap Primals in Hamlet Defense and add the risk of your Squadron being Tempered and oh boy. Make me weep for losing my perfect Red Scrip farming boi please. Am I fixated on having my Squadron die? Maybe, but it's hard to grow attached to them if there is no risk of losing them...

Command Missions rewards need a rethink... IDK what the point in this content even is currently... Perhaps I just have terrible luck, but every time I've done it and had Chemistry effects trigger, it has been a most pathetic reward... Finishing a dungeon I can solo much faster and for more GC seals, to get 1 Red Scrip? Are you joking? I suppose Command Missions would be useful for levelling the Squad up fast, but yeah... Don't have much reason to swap them out or even change their classes, so...

[DamianFatale]

Cosmetics:

- I want to be able to change my squadrons hair, and makeup.

Gameplay:

- Job Stones. I want to be able to upgrade classes, and make my squadron into advanced jobs that came after a realm reborn.

- Adjust dungeons so that they can be done a lot easier. Doing Brayfox’s Longstop HM, and Wanderers Palace HM is impossible on Astrologian. You don’t get your aoe until after level 50, and your attacks are too slow to cast.

Features:

- The ability to take Squadron members into the open world as companions. It would allow us to solo old fates, and other content.

- The ability to name your Squadron. I’ve put a lot of love into mine, and would like to give it a name.

[Delmontyb]

I'd love to see more with the Grand Companies and thanks for linking to my thread for Conquest... I'd love that system in this game.

[Reynhart]

When we mean FF Tactics, we actually mean something like FF Tactics, a grid turn-based mode.

Question : What would be the reward ?

That's the main problem of this game. If an alternate content doesn't offer anything significant to boost your character, the content will simply die. Glamours, minions and mount alone can't really keep something alive for long. And creating a Tactical system just be to used once or twice during specifics quests is not very efficient.

[Eliyon]

Would love to do old extreme/savage content with them not just dungeon running.

[Jojoya]

To understand the whole essence of the Grand Companies, you'd have had to understand the lore of the game and also the history of the implementation of the leves system. The leve system itself was always a foundation of the game since 1.0, and the premise was such that players, both hard-core and casuals, could log in, complete them within 20-30 minutes and gain experience points, materials etc.

The NPC squandron system that we now have in GCs is also a revamped and advanced version of the Companion system from 1.0, where we all had one companion that assisted in in battles etc. In actual context, the idea and concept of the Grand Companies date back to hundreds of years during the various Astral/Umbral eras in Eorzea and is part and parcel of Hydaelyn's history. If the WoL was not a part of them then his or her story falls apart at the very seams.

Direct quote from the official lore on Grand Companies:

For thousands of years, Eorzea has been victim to a catastrophic cycle of destruction and rebirth that periodically envelops the realm and threatens all who live upon her soil; each time faced with a tragedy seemingly worse than the last, however, the peoples of Eorzea have found some way to persevere. One method, seemingly going back hundreds of generations, has been the establishment of comprehensive command centers which combine the military, economic, and technological resources of a city-state in order to better prepare it for the coming doom. These are the Grand Companies of Eorzea.

The last recorded emergence of the Grand Companies was nearly 1,500 years ago, at the end of the Fifth Astral Era and the arrival of the great deluge which triggered the dark period known as the Sixth Umbral Era. It was through these companies that the then warring city-states were able to put aside their bitter differences and join together to form an alliance and ensure the realm survived."

None of what you quoted explains why the Warrior of Light must be a member of a Grand Company. It only explains what the GCs are (which is fine, they're still a part of the lore).

Nothing I do as the Warrior of Light in the MSQ has anything to do with being part of a Grand Company outside of that one segment after defeating Ifrit and even then, rescuing Biggs and Wedge could have been accomplished without GC affiliation considering as soon as we're done we head to back to the Waking Sands just to discover that they fell under Scion jurisdiction in the first place. Beyond that point, GCs might as well be one of the beast tribes considering the extent of our involvement with them.

As I said, it might make sense to someone who played in 1.0 but that content was abandoned and removed from the game. To someone who has only played from 2.0 on, it makes no sense. I would like SE to do something that causes it to make sense.

[Nalien]

That's the main problem of this game. If an alternate content doesn't offer anything significant to boost your character, the content will simply die. Glamours, minions and mount alone can't really keep something alive for long. And creating a Tactical system just be to used once or twice during specifics quests is not very efficient.

Not that I disagree (I'd kill for some horizontal gear progression in this game), but something like Treasure Maps seems perfectly fine as is offering fairly little in terms of rewards. Any potential Grand Company content could have a similar reward structure, plus Grand Company Seals, of course.

Speaking of which, can we buy old maps with Grand Company Seals? It's pretty much always been the case that people use their 18h allowance to get the highest tier map, leaving the other maps as kind of a forgotten relic... This wasn't too bad in Heavensward, but now with Stormblood, Dragonskin maps are forgotten (aside from the odd Wondrous Tails reward) and with them Aquapolis... Granted the Aquapolis rewards were moved into Scrips vendors, but I think a much better solution would have been to make older maps more accessible... Perhaps even slap them in as rare rewards for FATEs, because right now FATEs have zero purpose at level cap, they don't even give good Grand Company Seals as rewards... IDK why the bonus EXP systems added with Stormblood didn't translate into bonus Seals upon reaching the level cap... It would be nice to have more means to actively farm Seals, as well as more content to spend them on, and Treasure Maps are something I've always found to be fairly fun... Heck you could even have the Squadrons bring back maps occasionally, either via Chemistry effects or just as an additional reward from something like Command Missions...

As I said, it might make sense to someone who played in 1.0 but that content was abandoned and removed from the game. To someone who has only played from 2.0 on, it makes no sense. I would like SE to do something that causes it to make sense.

IIRC, the Grand Companies were tied more closely to the MSQ back in 1.0, I believe we got orders to go investigate and eventually fight Garuda via the Grand Companies, rather than something like the Scions.

I agree though, in 2.0 and beyond, our inclusion in the Grand Companies doesn't really have a purpose... I'd love for some kind of story tied to them, sort of like Beast Tribe quests, but on a larger scale and with ranks replacing reputation perhaps... FFXI did a nice job with its Nation storylines, it's a shame FFXIV doesn't really have anything comparable... It's very disappointing when you rank up in this game, it was actually better in 2.0 I guess (we get send off to do Darkhold iirc?), but now it's just "Send Squad off on a Venture and rank up when they return", there is absolutely nothing interesting going on with this... Give us a plot or something...

EDIT: Actually, thinking on rewards a bit... Could we maybe get something similar in design to the Eureka Effect on Grand Company gear? A stat that boosts the strength of our Squadron for Command Missions, perhaps... That would add a tiny bit of horizontal progression to the game that could make for nice rewards from any future Grand Company content... Would be a better use of those new weapons from Captain rank than whatever their purpose is currently...

Heck, thinking about it I wouldn't mind if we actually had to gear up our Squadrons properly... Right now it's just Glamours, but I'd be totally on board with giving them gear and Grand Company gear could fill that purpose as well as offering unique stats to the Squadron that wouldn't work for us with the current way PvE is designed... Even something incredibly basic like "Increases Chemistry trigger rate" on gear would be interesting IMO...