Going away

[SuperParaKoopa]

I don't want to sound weird saying this but thank you FF XIV community! All my previous experience with online communities (LoL, CoD, and a few others) were really bad. The people were jerks no matter how the game went. So far I have yet to meet anyone who's been rude or mean to me; even in my first dungeon everyone was really helpful. The forums are even better and all the advice I have gotten has been great! So thank you everyone.

That being said here is my question. I got an internship for the summer and during it (between June and early August) I wont be able to play the game. I have a few problems with this:

1) Will I be penalized for being away from the game so long?

2) I have been getting a lot of requests from FCs but I've been hesitant because either they're spammers or I don't want to join one and then leave for a long time. So my question is should I just wait till after my internship to join a FC?

Thanks!

[Suki-]

Congrats & good luck

1) No penalty. It's fine if your sub runs out, just re-sub once you have time to play again ^^

2) Imo, join one once you're back & find a FC that fits you don't feel obliged to join just because they sent you an invite :3

[vanityobscene]

2) I have been getting a lot of requests from FCs but I've been hesitant because either they're spammers or I don't want to join one and then leave for a long time. So my question is should I just wait till after my internship to join a FC?

My advice to you about Free Companies is not to join any of the companies that are trying to recruit you at random. This is a really impersonal approach to recruiting and it speaks volumes about that free company. It means that leadership is going to be loose, if not bad, and that has far reaching consequences for the Free Company in terms of cohesion for both up and comers and late gamers. The fact that no one knows each other means that the Free Company is also little more than a party finder at best.

Outside of what spamming invites implies, you don't need a free company for most of the story part of the game. You're better off meeting people and making friends than you are just joining any ol' FC.

Also, you don't want to be in a free company that then puts pressure on you to be doing certain things. There are also free companies that ask you to donate gil to gain ranks and what not within them. Don't join these FCs.

All in all, focus on yourself for now, and when you are confident in how you're playing the game think about free companies then.

I'm not in a free company and I haven't faced any troubles.

[Shirai]

Indeed, avoid the Free companies that send out mass invites. They don't care who or what they get in, wether it be gilsellers, scammers, thieves or whatever kind of scum, as long as they have people in them to bolster their rank/numbers.

If you want to test the waters with a certain group, ask if they have a (social) linkshell you can join first, that way you can at least see what kind of people you are getting to deal with and decide later on if you want to actually become part of that group.

But that is for later care, for now I'll wish you good luck with your internship.

[OSUBuckeye4]

Indeed, avoid the Free companies that send out mass invites. They don't care who or what they get in, wether it be gilsellers, scammers, thieves or whatever kind of scum, as long as they have people in them to bolster their rank/numbers.

I have to disagree with this.

There's no fees or dues rquired for agreeing to join a FC.

The worst thing that happens when you click "Yes" to a random invite, is that you find out a few seconds/minutes/hours/days/weeks later that the FC you joined does not share the same outlook you do.

When that happens, you just leave. No hard feelings.


I say this, because when I started playing (I joined when 2.1 dropped) I accepted the first invite that came my way.

Yes, that FC was terribly managed, but, they always had two company actions going, and those actions were generally geared towards newbies like me (usually + xp and reduced teleport costs).

While the FC as a whole was pretty terribly managed, I found a group of 5-6 people that were super cool. Upon hitting lvl 50, we left for a smaller more tight knit FC and pooled our money together and bought a company house.


My point? If I never joined that monstrosity of a FC (400+ members with no real central leadership), it wouldn't have led me to the smaller, cooler clan that I eventually joined down the road. Also, I benefited from all of those company actions that were running day and night.

[Niwashi]

I agree with Buckeye on the random invites issue. Yes, ideally you want to be in an FC with a group of friends you like, but you're not going to make friends until you start interacting with people on a regular basis. Unless you joined the game with a group of real life friends, your first FC is going to be a random collection of other people you don't know, simply because at that point everyone in the game is "people you don't know". You have to be willing to join with strangers before anyone can become something other than a stranger.

So yes, go ahead and join whichever group spams a recruitment message or a blind invite, or apply to a group selected for frivolous reasons like liking their name. It's once you're in the group that you'll be able to find out whether you like them or not. If you don't, then try another group until you find some people you do like.