Whatever happened to Free Company Alliances?

[Kyoraki]

So, all the way back in April we were meant to get a feature 2.2 that allowed smaller FC's to band up together in an Alliance, with likely privileges being shared chest space, chat, etc. A advertised feature that fell of the face of the earth when the Patch 2.2 notes hit, and were still absent in the 2.28 update.

Saying something is in production is one thing, but taking out a feature just before it's meant to go live and going quiet about it like it never happened is highly unusual for the devs. What's going on?

[Riepah]

I'm mildly curious about this as well.

[Sove92]

Greetings,

The ability to form some an alliance with other free companies is still being developed but is only in the early planning stages. Once there are more details we will be sure to share.

This happened.

[Xenor]

I'd rather have a reason to be in an FC first. As it stands FCs are broken down into static parties where you rarely get to play with people in other groups.

[Riepah]

I'd rather have a reason to be in an FC first. As it stands FCs are broken down into static parties where you rarely get to play with people in other groups.

Company actions and the ability to own a house. Not all FCs are broken down into static parties, either. If you had bad experiences with FCs so far, keep looking, or just go ahead and make your own and mold it to your wishes.

[Ecks007]

I'd rather have a reason to be in an FC first. As it stands FCs are broken down into static parties where you rarely get to play with people in other groups.

That is only dependent upon the person who made the guild and if their intent was that.

FC's are the "Guilds" of FFXIV, and so they can and do represent a number of various groups and playstyles. You have your 8 man FC of super hardcore Coil static grinders, to your 10-20 member small FC that focus on whatever, all the way to the massive 512 (I think that was the cap) member FCs that also do... whatever it is they do, be it hardcore, casual, or a mix of the two. I'm sure there are also Role-playing FCs on some servers as well.

Some people create a guild with the intent in making it the most massive guild on the server as a way of making a name for themselves. Some people make a guild just to help out new players and generally be supportive. Some FC are serious and focused on progression, some are less defined and more social. It's really all in what the person who created the FC has in mind and how they add other players into their FC.

And that pretty much concludes this lesson on MMORPG guilds, similar for every mmorpg, ever.

As for reason to be in one? In the case of FFXIV you get beneficial bonuses to a variety of things in the form of buffs, possible housing, possible gardening, and in 2.3 the ability to utilize a chocobo raising stall.

[Kyoraki]

I'd rather have a reason to be in an FC first. As it stands FCs are broken down into static parties where you rarely get to play with people in other groups.

The way I see it, an FC is a group of dedicated and like minded players who band together and volunteer their time into making theirs and other people's experiences in the game better. The advantages of being in an FC are entirely down to how that organisation is run, whether the officers start up static groups, host RP events, craft up free gear to help folks level up their classes, or even just maintain a healthy environment for people to enjoy the game with plenty of conversation and as an alternative to the unpredictability of Duty and Party finder.

Now an alliance would build upon that, giving a way for like minded FC's to share resources and expand their social circle. Especially useful for smaller FC's (like ours), which sometimes hurt for a decent amount of members online at any one time to do stuff with.