Avraym, so they English translators dropped the ball and didn't clarify. Lets shoot them. I'd trust the Japanese version...since well it IS the ORIGINAL. Continue to argue that if you must, but the English translators were handed that version to translate.

Onto your actual point of people choosing Uldah to 'play the numbers odds.' Yes, some will do that. And some linkshells will probably even make silly rules about what company you must join. Then again, there are plenty of linkshells advertising themselves as 'Endgame Linkshells' in a game that's barely out of Beta...so what can you do?

You should join the company that drops the gears you need/has the story you like/ is in the city you prefer. I'm POSITIVE you will be able to find 4 or even 8 people whole agree with you that ________company is awesome! SE was just giving a 'bonus' to company parties on the Rank 25 Battle. Bonus means extra by the way. You'd have a better point if it was like ffxi where when you did you City Quests Missions where if I remember correctly, you were ONLY allowed to do it with people hailing from the same city. (I know, God forbid I compare to an older MMO made by the same company to make a point.)

PS: I run a linkshell, we did take a poll on who's planning on joining what company...but not to sway anyone's decision. Instead, we did it to see how many we'd have in each. Oh, and Uldah came in 3rd.... Gridania won.