Workshops - getting 4 people in there to progress a tier is getting tedious

[NotOliverB]

Both options being unreasonable and proof this system has problems.

How are those unreasonable if you don't have enough social skills to have a couple friends?

[Vidu]

How are those unreasonable if you don't have enough social skills to have a couple friends?

Friends might not always be online or have the time to stand around for 2-30+ minutes (depending on the projects), doing nothing else.

There is no reason to have 4 people in that workshop whatsover. 3 of them are basically only an abritary requirement that adds nothing to the enjoyment of the game for anyone.
Lets hear one good reason for 4 people to be there!
"Its possible" isnt a good reason, because while yes, it is possible, its also annoying and not nessecary.

[NotOliverB]

Friends might not always be online or have the time to stand around for 2-30+ minutes (depending on the projects), doing nothing else.

There is no reason to have 4 people in that workshop whatsover. 3 of them are basically only an abritary requirement that adds nothing to the enjoyment of the game for anyone.
Lets hear one good reason for 4 people to be there!
"Its possible" isnt a good reason, because while yes, it is possible, its also annoying and not nessecary.

Why do you need 4 people to purchase an FC house?

[StouterTaru]

Why do you need 4 people to purchase an FC house?

You don't need 4 people that aren't necessarily in the FC standing at the placard to buy a FC house.

[Vidu]

Why do you need 4 people to purchase an FC house?

Hey, I just had an amazing idea!
How about we turn stuff like sending out submarines and airships into content where 75% of the people involved arent doing anything and are just standing around?

You know very well why they out the rule that an FC needs to have 4 members to purchase a house was put in place: To prevent people from owning more than one personal house, in the form of a second one as solo-FC. Yes, I know, one can circumvent that and that you've been bragging about violating the spirit of that rule for quite a while, so dont pretend you dont know why they make you jump through hoops...

Needing 4 people to purchase a house or found an FC is still not a good reason to need 4 people in the workshop, when 3 of those 4 members are only there to afk and not play the game during the time the project gets finished.

[NotOliverB]

Hey, I just had an amazing idea!
How about we turn stuff like sending out submarines and airships into content where 75% of the people involved arent doing anything and are just standing around?

You know very well why they out the rule that an FC needs to have 4 members to purchase a house was put in place: To prevent people from owning more than one personal house, in the form of a second one as solo-FC. Yes, I know, one can circumvent that and that you've been bragging about violating the spirit of that rule for quite a while, so dont pretend you dont know why they make you jump through hoops...

Needing 4 people to purchase a house or found an FC is still not a good reason to need 4 people in the workshop, when 3 of those 4 members are only there to afk and not play the game during the time the project gets finished.

"Violating the spirit of the rule". Wanna play that card? I say anyone who's not in the FC of the company's workshop is violating the spirit of the rules because workshop projects were clearly intended for FC members due to workshop related FC permissions.

Why in the world is it not a good reason? The workshop is an FC only facility. You need 4 people to found an FC. You need 4 people to purchase an FC house. You need 4 people to make items in an FC workshop. Anyone in the same FC as the workshop can contribute to the project as materials are being delivered. People AFKing in there is only a result of them violating the spirit of the rule.

[Solarra]

I doubt this is going to be changed. To me, it feels like FC Crafting has either been forgotten or written off as a mistake.
There doesn't seem to have been any effort put in to make the workshop engaging or fun content for a party, and that's the problem.
However, since this thread was made, we've had one official response promising to look into the requirement for 4 people to advance or finish items and nothing since. It seems the devs have opted for the easier solution of simply making most workshop products available elsewhere or irrelevant.

- Older house-skins are now on the retainer loot-table (so why bother making a skin at huge expense when it will be dirt-cheap on the MB in a couple of months?).
- Submarines are bringing back mostly ARR and HW materials, low-level materia and only a few new items. Compare that to HW where airships brought back current crafting materials, rare items and unlocked the Diadem for the FC. They were much more relevant and a better investment.
- There is no exploration content like the Diadem for SB.
- Squadron Buffs overwrite FC buffs and allow individuals much more flexibility than FC buffs.

It would be nice to see FCs given a little more love. There aren't many advantages of being in an active FC and that's a pity. The social aspect of the game should be considered more. When the game is drip-feeding content like it is right now, having fun side stuff to do with friends keeps a lot of people subbed.

That said, this particular rule is doing nothing useful. The content is what it is. The design means a single player can do everything more efficiently than having the group participate. Insisting 3 other people have to be in the workshop at the same time even though there is nothing for them to do is pointless.

[Vidu]

Why in the world is it not a good reason? The workshop is an FC only facility. You need 4 people to found an FC. You need 4 people to purchase an FC house. You need 4 people to make items in an FC workshop. Anyone in the same FC as the workshop can contribute to the project as materials are being delivered. People AFKing in there is only a result of them violating the spirit of the rule.

Oh, yes, they workshop was intended to offer "FC-projects".
You know what me and my friends were hoping for at the time of the annoucment? Actual FC-content that would involve all 4 people present in the workshop! Either in the form of actual group-crafting of some sort using our current crafting-system or at least as a minigame with having to press buttons at certain points or using QTEs to achieve boni (like increasing the chances to get the better conditions we're now getting by random chance alone).

I dont need the 3 other people that are founding my FC with me to stand at the GC and wait for 30 minutes while they cant do anything.
I dont need the 3 other people to stand in the yard for 30 minutes while I'm buying the house.

Both are also just ("hopefully") one time things or at least they dont occur to often. Using the workshop happens way more frequently, depending on how you use it.
This is a request for a very reasonable QoL-improvment - "But you need 4 people to do the other FC-stuff!" is not a good argument. I dont need 4 people to tend to the FC-garden. Or to operate the aetherial wheel. Or to send out airships and submarines. Or to use an FC-action. Non of that involves more than one person doing anything. Workshop-projects fall into the same category.

People afking in there is the result of no content for them to engage in.
Either they fix that by changing how the workshop uses the light group thats present - or they do away with this requirement that adds nothing to the enjoyment of the game.

[NotOliverB]

Oh, yes, they workshop was intended to offer "FC-projects".
You know what me and my friends were hoping for at the time of the annoucment? Actual FC-content that would involve all 4 people present in the workshop! Either in the form of actual group-crafting of some sort using our current crafting-system or at least as a minigame with having to press buttons at certain points or using QTEs to achieve boni (like increasing the chances to get the better conditions we're now getting by random chance alone).

I dont need the 3 other people that are founding my FC with me to stand at the GC and wait for 30 minutes while they cant do anything.
I dont need the 3 other people to stand in the yard for 30 minutes while I'm buying the house.

Both are also just ("hopefully") one time things or at least they dont occur to often. Using the workshop happens way more frequently, depending on how you use it.
This is a request for a very reasonable QoL-improvment - "But you need 4 people to do the other FC-stuff!" is not a good argument. I dont need 4 people to tend to the FC-garden. Or to operate the aetherial wheel. Or to send out airships and submarines. Or to use an FC-action. Non of that involves more than one person doing anything. Workshop-projects fall into the same category.

People afking in there is the result of no content for them to engage in.
Either they fix that by changing how the workshop uses the light group thats present - or they do away with this requirement that adds nothing to the enjoyment of the game.

Sorry, but people on this board seem to believe that if you don't have 4 people in a specific FC, that has access to housing, you're abusing the system. Which is obviously not a good argument, thank you for proving my point.

One could arguably say that the 4 people requirement to start and FC and purchase and FC house is also a restriction that prevents certain people from enjoying the game

[Vidu]

Sorry, but people on this board seem to believe that if you don't have 4 people in a specific FC, that has access to housing, you're abusing the system. Which is obviously not a good argument, thank you for proving my point.

One could arguably say that the 4 people requirement to start and FC and purchase and FC house is also a restriction that prevents certain people from enjoying the game

You're welcome!

Thanks for failing again to adress my point about making an actual argument against the requested QoL-feature to remove the arbitrary light-party requirement in workshops, which is what this topic is about. I'll file that under "you dont have a good argument for keeping it", so how about you join our efforts to have it removed when its there for no reason whatsoever? Or provide actual reason to keep it in place if you care about having 3 people afk in your worksgop so much - I'd like to hear why you find that enjoyable enough to defend it