Still a bit confused as to what Free Companies are

[Kagato]

I've read a few "official" explanations as to what they are... and my brain just isn't registering it correctly. So forgive me for being a dummy, but I'm going to ask some possibly stupid questions.

What exactly is a Free Company? The explanations don't seem to say anything outside of it "being a way for people of one Grand Company to participate in events made for another Grand Company." In other words, a way for Adder players to join Maelstrom players in Maelstrom events, for example.

Is this correct? And if so, is that all? The way I imagined a Free Company to be is like a "fleet" of sorts, where different groups of people (like different linkshells, all ran by different people) all were a part of a Free Company, basically like multiple linkshells all grouping into one big alliance or something, called a Free Company.

So, can anyone help me properly understand what a Free Company is really made for? ^_^;

Thanks!

[Orophin]

It's supposed to the equivalent to a Guild in other MMOs, like WoW, Aion, etc. They have more functions than a linkshell which is basically just a chat channel.

There's not a lot of info yet, but the basic premise is that a FC can be made up of members from any GC. Apart from that, the rest of the information we've been given is pretty vague.

[Myranda]

It is a player guild.

Linkshells used to serve this purpose as best they could, but they lacked many features a true guild has in many other games. Linkshells were always just chat channels, and only served as guilds because nothing else existed. Going forward, linkshells will be left as chat only because they no longer need to do anything else, Free Companies having taken all the guild functions.

You can join as many linkshells as you want, but can only join one FC/guild at a time.

All the talk of involving Grand Companies is just a way of explaining through lore that any player can join any guild, regardless of their city-state affiliations.

[Kagato]

I never played any MMO with a guild system, so I don't know what it entails.

[Abriael]

I never played any MMO with a guild system, so I don't know what it entails.

Duh... I thought ALL mmos had a guild system?

Oh wait...

[Myranda]

I never played any MMO with a guild system, so I don't know what it entails.

Besides the obvious as a group of people you regularly run content with (the overall point of a guild, all the other things feed into achieving a solid and connected group), it entails things such as having communal storage where items can be easily shared amongst members without having to do direct person to person trades, possibly a pooled gil fund, the ability to set access permissions on the above. Stuff like that which helps manage the group. Housing also will provide a place to have a guild meeting hall and the possibility for various stat bonuses to be granted to all members depending on various housing addons/decorations.

[Dragonheart]

Duh... I thought ALL mmos had a guild system?

Oh wait...

yeah.. except 2...

[ArkhamNative]

The basics, summarized from some rep and Yoshi-P posts (prior to alpha test, so none of this is NDA):

A free company can be started with as few as 4 players. They are formed by submitting an application to a Grand Company. It starts off with a shared box for storage (and maybe a message forum?). The structure and organization of a free company is up to the leader (such as having different titles and hierarchies, specifying who can withdraw from the box, etc.). There are lots of options to configure.

Each free company can have its own crest, combined from a set of game graphics parts. And the crest can be added to certain gear.

A free company can recruit low level players, and invite players as guests. Mentoring them will gain rank and rewards for your free company. Free companies allow access to housing estates (HQ?) and perhaps even cooperative synthesis [not sure if that's making/sharing mats for each member, or the "mythical" party of crafters working to synth special big items...].

Free companies can ally with other free companies.

Some of this is coming after launch, though. Also some of this info is over a year old, so the actual details may be somewhat different, but this is what was said.

[Alhanelem]

I've read a few "official" explanations as to what they are... and my brain just isn't registering it correctly. So forgive me for being a dummy, but I'm going to ask some possibly stupid questions.

What exactly is a Free Company? The explanations don't seem to say anything outside of it "being a way for people of one Grand Company to participate in events made for another Grand Company." In other words, a way for Adder players to join Maelstrom players in Maelstrom events, for example.

Is this correct? And if so, is that all? The way I imagined a Free Company to be is like a "fleet" of sorts, where different groups of people (like different linkshells, all ran by different people) all were a part of a Free Company, basically like multiple linkshells all grouping into one big alliance or something, called a Free Company.

So, can anyone help me properly understand what a Free Company is really made for? ^_^;

Thanks!

Free Companies are Guilds in any other game, with guild features like storage, guild headquarters, etc. They serve mostly the same purpose that linkshells did in XI in the absence of any special features for guilds

Linkshells are just chat channels to link friends together. You can have several of them and they can be independent of your free company- so they will still have a purpose.

[Kagato]

I have a much better understanding now. Thank you. So it seems what event shells should be aiming towards is starting a Free Company rather than just an "Event Shell."