People prefer to PUG rather than join an FC?

[Redh]

That's a serious What the eff. for you sir.

Calm down, this is a discussion forum. I was just putting it out there. Different people have different views, and that's why I came here to try and understand things better.

I'm surprised at some of the answers, but do see some commonality in the answers compared to my own views. Quite a few people seem to be jaded from having joined poor guilds in the past and putting up with bad players, and therefore enjoy the freedom pugging gives them. Afterall if the pug fails there is no commitment to stay or play with those people ever again. I feel that way with my guild - I'm there because it means I don't have to put up with the drama / bad players from pugs.

I do however question whether people pug because they are genuinely just better than everyone else and can't find a guild that matches their standard of pay. That smacks of BS to me! I still think there is a general 'dumbing down' of either content or population. People don't have the attention span / determination they used to. I think this is because the overwhelming playerbase is more casual, and that's what the developers chase. It would be hard to argue that this game, lag issues aside, is all that challenging at the moment. But it's new of course - most games are released at around this standard of skill.

But if I was sitting alone in general chat / linkshells all night looking for a pug every time I logged on, I'd feel it a soulless experience. I'd miss the atmosphere on Teamspeak, and the cheers when we down a new boss. Fair play to you if you don't, but I am surprised that there are more people feeling this way in FFXIV than I have experienced in any community beforehand.

Another question - if you joined a pug and cleared coils 1-4 and everyone felt the group did well, would you be happy if that group decided to form a new guild and join it? Or would you still prefer to pug with randoms every week?

NB: This is my first PvE ONLY game, so maybe that would explain the difference. In PvP games guilds tend to earn reputations, so players always want to be in the top guilds. I guess here it's not such an issue.

[tyrianna324]

Its got nothing to do with casual or non casual play even hard cores are doing it this way for the challenge. Others dont like FC (like me) because many have either been dormant or they just dont communicate kind of pointless to be in an FC where no one talks. Then of course there are times when people want to play when they want and not when someone invites so pug groups make that possible. I myself run nothing but Pug constantly simply because i can and because i dont see the point in actually having to constantly do what others want me to do. If course im committed to the game but i want to get to end content on my own terms not on someone elses.

[ElosHellion]

I don't get it either.

The couple of FCs I've been in have been full of people all doing different things instead playing together. I think it has a lot with people having different priorities in game and having different goals. I'd rather spend my time running content with friends that I don't need to do than pugging stuff that I do need.

Also, the way I look at it, all the gear that drops that I don't get could be helping people I play with regularly instead of complete strangers. Helping friends feels more rewarding to me than helping strangers.

[Kuvu]

I see a lot of people that make a FC with close RL friends to chat with and then join LS's to actually do stuff. To me it would seem that you would want to do the opposite. Join a FC to do stuff and a LS to chat with friends. There are a lot of FC's that have like 5 to 8 people in them.

[Skullcrusher]

Wanna know why I'm forced to pug.
I'm in the oceanic region and by the time I created a character , All servers with oceanic guilds were full, so I was forced to roll on an American server.

Now, I'm still here and the times I play they are in bed, not to mention I'm just a nobody to these ppl in this fc, I don't know them, every time I say hi And make small talk, I get ignored and they just carry on talkin with each other.

My whole guild of mates I e played with for over 8 years stayed in wow, I'm all alone.

Hoping to change this when serve transfers come thru though, I would like nothing else the to join a raiding oceanic fc

[sasakusaku]

I was in the same guild...for over 8 years....guild upped and died. The few people left are still playing that other game so I am alone....

I am also HYPER loyal if the guild warrants it but I have not found one here that meets my criteria.

But in the end....no good things last.

Any rate, I prefer to pug atm...no demands, no people telling me what to do or how to play, totally free from the drama that is always attached to a guild in some shape or form.

FREEEEEEEEEDOOOOOMMMM!!11!!

I would like to find a guild and actually making an effort to do so by moving servers (hopefully) when the option comes up but until then...I will just PuG. Besides, running with a geared out team in anything but titan/coil makes me fall a sleep. PuGs really make it exciting, like that tank I healed a few AK runs ago who had no items above lvl 35...LOL! That really kept me on my toes, let me tell you.

[Zaiken]

People just say get an FC and you are all set. It's not that easy, like many said you actually need a good Friendly FC that go out of their way to help people out in the FC. I have never met an FC like that. Whenever you ask for help from them, it always end up in respond of "Oh, I'm not on that quest yet." "I still haven't reach that part yet." Or the best one yet just completely silent. It also seam that a lot of FC just try to recruit as much people as possible and get the highest number of players, but when they have 300+ Members, most of the time it only 30 onlines and the rest is inactive all the times.

If it wasn't for a couple of friends I play with, I would have gotten no where today and probably quit this game a long time ago. Whatever happen to help others out in your FC and working together? May as well not have an FC at all.

[Renytenz]

FC is not something that eliminates the problem of finding a group. Consider this: I like to level different classes at different times. Thus I do low level dungeons. Many people prefer to run with 1 class to the max and then grind end game dungeons. It is difficult for me to find pre-made group not even among FC members, but just by shouting in towns/posting on the server forum. Thus more times than not now I just don't bother. I can get in a group instantly with tank-healer premade.
Now if there was a situation that I would get into end game dungeons and level only one class, I would never submit myself to a constant party that HAS to be online at specific dates and specific times. I have played a number of MMOs and never found it appealing to be in a situation when I HAVE to be online at specific time. Heck, I might be playing regularly at that time, almost every day, but I log on because I want to, not because I have to. I tried running in a constant group and left soon. I prefer having a number of people that are capable of running the content, then just check if required amount of players online and then go on from there. Only improvisation, no plans.

[Laiyenu]

Personally I like an FC, I like getting to know my raid / team members. Makes the game more fun.

[Cobrauh]

It's called Freedom man. Some people don't understand freedom. Having set times and groups to play is not fun and borderline job. I like to be able to get on waste my time doing anything I want at anytime and then say whenever I want "oh i feel like running coil right now" and get a group and just go. It makes things more enjoyable for me; having commitment to others who I have never met is not. I actually wish the game was a tad bit more pug friendly, but it isn't to bad.