Are FCs "guilds" or LSes "guilds"

[Kelani]

Well I got disillusioned by FC's and their promises, only to find that that's all they were promises that were never kept. In the end I use party finder/duty finder to do all the stuff I want to (not interested in statics or anything like that tbh not much of a raider) and myself and my partner have created an FC for ourselves so we have somewhere to chat and also not be inundated with blind FC invites. We're now much happier that way.

I guess if I ever get interested in doing end game content (no where near end game atm) then I'll look for a link shell that does that stuff, but until then I'm happy with the way things are

[Colt47]

Well I got disillusioned by FC's and their promises, only to find that that's all they were promises that were never kept. In the end I use party finder/duty finder to do all the stuff I want to (not interested in statics or anything like that tbh not much of a raider) and myself and my partner have created an FC for ourselves so we have somewhere to chat and also not be inundated with blind FC invites. We're now much happier that way.

I guess if I ever get interested in doing end game content (no where near end game atm) then I'll look for a link shell that does that stuff, but until then I'm happy with the way things are

The FCs did act like guild back when I first played the game in 2.0. It was after I came back for the later half of heavensward that I found the game had changed. It felt like people got spread too thin and that the housing system was partly to blame.

[LaylaTsarra]

The FCs did act like guild back when I first played the game in 2.0. It was after I came back for the later half of heavensward that I found the game had changed. It felt like people got spread too thin and that the housing system was partly to blame.

FC's don't really have an advantage when it comes to housing purchases. That only happened once to my knowledge when housing was released for Shirogane and it may not have been in the initial release but only in the follow up fix it patch that came later

[Dreamsoap]

I really can't figure this out after seeing how fragmented the community is on US servers like Balmung. It's like the individualistic culture of western civilization just overrode any kind of common sense, and everyone set off to make an FC just to get a house. Then they realized they needed benefits, so they decided to pretend to be guilds and recruit people just to rank up the FC.

And then the end game feels like pickup group hell because no one can get enough people at any one point in time to do anything except the most basic of content, with learning parties basically being dead after the first two weeks of content release.

I know there are "real" guilds with people that are organizing events and actually doing content, but it feels like that is the exception rather than the norm.

Does anyone else feel this way? I'm seriously feeling burned already just trying to get people to come together and do end game content. It's like they think an organized group in discord is going to be drill Sargent land just because of how aggressive the pugs are with purging people who started EX content late, just hit end game, or don't have a schedule that fits with most pickup groups.

I've been in two FCs now that turned out to just to be gil mills for the leader who pretended to care about the members. The last one even had a cultish fallout of drama, apparently I wasn't allowed to leave it lol. There's always so many edgelords and creeps to deal with too, I got really tired of it and decided to just make a 2-man FC with my SO so we could enjoy the perks of having an FC house to ourselves. And join LSs for the social aspects we want. It's a lot less mentally taxing this way, at least in our experience.

[Hazmick]

Sad to hear that so many people have had bad experiences with FCs. I've been part of 5 FCs since I started playing, and every single one was a pleasant, friendly social space.

[Vivi_Bushido]

FCs are guilds and they have other perks than housing. FC buffs and company workshops. If personal houses ever get their own workshops FCs will probably die. On Balmung, that's all you'll mostly find is cliques in the FCs, including the really big ones. As for the lack of inviting you to content, it's more likeable that it's because they don't care about the content. I tried to make a PvE FC over here on Balmung and I keep getting laughed at for not being RP focused since that's most all anyone wants to do over here is RP and play with glamours. I think honestly this data center has taken the whole glamour is the real endgame meme a bit to seriously. All my friends keep leaving the server because PF is an absolute nightmare. Don't even bother joining FCs to help with content unless it's for roulettes, old primal farms, or maps. This basically sums up the only content you'll ever see FCs do.

I'm still trying to get my FC off the ground and already had like 5 different non-FC members try to tell me I should make it into some kind of RP FC with no more than 10 members and that's just not my thing...

[Colt47]

I just want to get people through Eden Normal -> Titania EX -> Innocence EX -> Savage Eden without them getting berated by angry people in Party Finder. Also, I actually like the FC I'm in now because people in it actually post events and attend them. That's literally what I want out of an FC: Some kind of structured event schedule to keep people interested. Otherwise, why not just run off and do PF?

[Vivi_Bushido]

I just want to get people through Eden Normal -> Titania EX -> Innocence EX -> Savage Eden without them getting berated by angry people in Party Finder. Also, I actually like the FC I'm in now because people in it actually post events and attend them. That's literally what I want out of an FC: Some kind of structured event schedule to keep people interested. Otherwise, why not just run off and do PF?

I like this too, and a lot of FCs actually do events. The problem is very few people actually show up. Mostly just due to the fact it's incompatible with everyone's schedule which is really nobody's fault.

[TwistedTea]

FC's don't really have an advantage when it comes to housing purchases. That only happened once to my knowledge when housing was released for Shirogane and it may not have been in the initial release but only in the follow up fix it patch that came later

FCs have 3 advantages that I'm aware of when it comes to purchasing housing:

1. FC house purchases do not have the same restrictions as personal houses. No need to be Second Lieutenant in Grand Company etc. As long, as you can access the housing area and have 4 members in the FC(can even be alts), you can purchase an FC house.

2. If new housing is released in 5.2 like 4.2, FCs will have first dibs on new house plots as individual buyers will be restricted from purchasing plots initially. I fully expect people to create shell FCs to buy houses either for themselves or to flip/sell.

3. A single service account can own 8 FC houses. 1 purchased normally, 7 through transfer of FC leadership. FC houses offer a significant Market Board advantage as a single FC house can generate at least, 5-10 million gil a week through airships/submarines, gardens etc

SE seriously needs to re-evaluate current housing. Currently, it's possible for just 100 players owning 8 FC houses to own ~20% of the houses on a server, 800/4320(Total number of house plots on a world).

Instanced housing would guarantee everyone gets 1 personal and 1 FC house.

People who want to own houses in persistent wards can contest plots in existing wards(legacy wards in the future).

[AnimaAnimus]

There are not true guilds in ffxiv because there really isn't a need for it. You can do everything, outside ultimate, with pick up groups and you barely have to leave your house to do it. That is the way ffxiv is specifically designed. This is an mmo that is more of a coop game than a true mmo. You only need to interact with others by clicking on join pt or join roulette. You don't need to even say hello or goodbye if you don't want to. You don't need to participate in any chat or depend on anyone for absolutely anything. Heck you cant even give constructive criticism without someone loosing their mind. So the best you can hope for is that the party will pull its weight.

I have an FC here on Sarg. I tried for a long long time to run it like a guild, I had a guild in ffxi that lasted from 2005ish to 2012 with the same core group of people and we were great friends and did a lot for and with each other. But here I couldn't get ppl to show up for raids, no one would wait for others to finish what they were doing to run roulettes together or do maps, no one was willing to help teach things, no one could show up on time for anything scheduled and then some would go berserk over not completing content. I eventually turned it into a solo FC then invited some rl friends who barely play anyway but when they do they at least have access to a house.

You don't need people cause you can just do whatever, whenever and that is not conducive to creating a tight nit group that rely on each other long enough to form any sort of relationship.

This is not a social game unless you go out of your way to make it that way. So coming to ffxiv and expecting any semblance of a guild they way it is in other games, or the way it was in the past, is going to do nothing but bring you disappointment. If you are looking for the true guild experience, my suggestion would be to look somewhere else, because its all but impossible here.