New Grand Companies?

[ErikMynhier]

So we have learned that a new set of Housing Wards are coming. Its assumed that they will be Ishgard, and Ala Mhigo also came up. This got me thinking, will we ever get new GCs to go with these new districts? I know lore wise there isnt much there but the wards at least to me seem mechanically tied to the GCs. I know Ishgard has no GC but that has never stopped SE before.


So what do you think? Do you think its possible? If they added new ones, what would it be like? Would it be a good or bad idea? What about pvp? Discuss.

[Khubla_Kha]

It would be cool. I doubt they would do it and consider them GC's in the same way the Serpents/Maelstrom/Flames are if for no other reason the potential issues it would cause with the PvP system they have in place.

I would love to be able to swear allegiance to Ishgard or Ala Mhigo rather than one of the other three city state's if for no other reason I prefer the flavor of their lore.

[Enkidoh]

Very very doubtful actually, as far as the game's lore goes - the whole reason the Grand Companies were formed in the first place was due to the lead up to the Calamity (back in the original version of FFXIV), Gridania, Limsa Lominsa and Ul'dah actually lacked permanent standing armies, only having token militias used for internal peacekeeping (hence why adventurers were relied on for things like monster culling), and were most definitely not in a position to defend against anything, let alone Nael van Darnus and the VIIth Garlean Legion.

Suddenly with the Garlean forces mobilizing for a full on assault and Dalamud looming bloated and bloody overhead like the Sword of Damocles, the fledgling Alliance needed to raise manpower fast as well as providing a quick way of pooling resources together in order to present a coherent front against the Garlean Empire. Thus the Grand Companies were established out of sheer necessity, to oversee the recruitment of adventurers as a volunteer military to defend against the Garlean invasion.

Ishgard however, already has a full standing army and they always have had one (led by the Temple Knights and the Order of the Dragoon), having always been at various stages of war with Nidhogg and his Dravanian Horde for a thousand years. Accordingly, they refused to participate in the Alliance, meaning they were not a part of the establishment of the original Grand Companies - they even have their own volunteer military in the form of the Convictors, meaning even more there is little likelihood of seeing an Isghardian Grand Company I'm afraid.

As for Ala Mhigo, the city has long been conquered by the Garleans, and the remnant forces of Ala Mhigo's royal army are now nothing more than a rag-tag Resistance force that has actually accomplished little in the two plus decades since Theoudic's fall from power and Gaius's annexation of the citystate at best, a good deal of it's troops ended up becoming brigand gangs like the Corpse Brigade that do nothing but make trouble for themselves and their own countrymen and women.

So the Alliance has appeared to fill the void in leading the push towards Ala Mhigo in the hopes of liberating it from the Garleans once and for all (which is of course the whole scenario behind Stormblood after all) - back in the closing cutscenes of 2.55 Pipin mentioned he had been stationed at "the Ala Mhigan Front" for an extended period, proving the Immortal Flames at least have been conducting military operations there for quite some time.

Of course nothing is stopping SE from coming up with some other explanation to explain the establishment of Isghardian and Ala Mhigian Grand Companies. But as the lore stands at the moment, I don't see that ever happening I'm afraid for the reasons mentioned.

[ErryK]

I remember reading in an interview post-3.1 that Yoshida said we may see an Ishgardian Grand Company, but it wasn't a guarantee so at this point, it's probably unlikely as far as I know.

[Gravton]

I think GCs as a whole is broken and adding a new one would be just as broken. That being said, i think i would find them just as interesting as new fates.

To me from a lore stand point. What's the point? My allegiance isn't brought up in the main story, i save all the cities equally. I pledge allegiance to my grand company, my free company (who in turn can pledge their allegiance to another grand company) the scions, Ishgaurd, that giant crystal, and now the rebellion in a future expansion. Does my allegiance really mean anything in this game?

As for features. What's the point? All the items will be relatively the same, just re-skinned. With PotD the gear is just glamour. Its not like Gridania gives a buff to WHMs for aligning to Gridania. If they made GCs special in some way then I would be more excited. I'm not against a new one, or think a new one would be stupid. If it makes people happy then go for it. I personally don't see a point.

[Brill_]

A new GC would make frontline queues even longer.

[Averax]

If they weren't tied to PvP, i could see it. But they are, and adding more factions to PvP would royally screw it.

[FinalWolf]

Ishgard. They already have the grand company logo.

[MilesSaintboroguh]

Ishgard. They already have the grand company logo.

That's the symbol of their nation. They don't have a grand company.

[Rhaja]

No real point until the GC's actually matter.