GC Ranks

[Fernehalwes]

Greetings Mychael and thanks a lot for the post and my apologies for the belated response!

It wouldn't be a stretch to say that coming up with Grand Company ranks for the three main city-states was quite the task. The lore masters wanted something that was original, but also recognizable...AND not too complicated. Things got even trickier when the team let it drop that they wanted to base the names off of traditional Japanese military rankings...which seemed to fall beautifully into groups of four, and didn't always match up with existing American or British terminology. THEN, there was the issue of being able to use the same rankings across all three Grand Companies, even though, like you mentioned, they are completely different organizations (i.e. the Maelstrom being akin to a navy, etc.).

And that is pretty much what led us to our current ranking system. For the most part, it can be thought of as an amalgam of titles borrowed from each of the three systems used traditionally in Limsa Lominsa, Gridania, and Ul'dah; combined to form a single system to rule them all.

LORE ALERT
When the three city-states began to recognize that the threat of the Empire was real, and that restoring the Grand Companies of old might be the best solution to maintain the peace, the Eorzean Alliance held several talks to discuss the best plan of action. Like any government might, each city-state had their own interests, but realized that they only way they were to stand against the Empire is if they stood together, and to do that, they would need a system that clearly defined rank, smoothing cross-company communication by preventing confusion over who outranked who. The last thing anyone needed were petty squabbles over the differences between a ship captain in the Thalassocratic Navy, a Woodwailer captain, and a mercenary captain in the Brass Blades.

For anyone who is or was a member of the armed forces here on Earth, I can understand the awkwardness that accompanies seeing 'petty officer' in association with ranks that are reserved for the Army, and for that we're sorry. However, we're going to stick with what we have, as we feel it gives the ranks that 'melting pot' feel the lore masters were aiming for.

As for your suggestion to shorten up player titles (from Storm Sergeant Second Class, down to just Storm Sergeant, etc), I think that's something that can definitely be done depending on the context, and we'll keep that in mind when churning out future quests.

Thanks again, and I hope that answer helped to clear some things up.

[Mychael]

[Brilliance]

Awesome! Thank you so much for the response and especially lore. :3 The random lore tidbits make the Localization forums my favorite place. I didn't even think about the Eorzean Alliance, so it makes much more sense that everyone's' ranks match with that taken into consideration. ^^; Also, good news about the shorter titles.

Thanks again!

[Skies]

For anyone who is or was a member of the armed forces here on Earth, I can understand the awkwardness that accompanies seeing 'petty officer' in association with ranks that are reserved for the Army, and for that we're sorry. However, we're going to stick with what we have, as we feel it gives the ranks that 'melting pot' feel the lore masters were aiming for.

For what it's worth, at least in Brazil all three armed forces use almost exactly the same naming scheme, with the exception of officers and soldiers in the navy. So it doesn't makes THAT little sense.

[Fernehalwes]

For what it's worth, at least in Brazil all three armed forces use almost exactly the same naming scheme, with the exception of officers and soldiers in the navy. So it doesn't makes THAT little sense.

That I did not know! Thanks for the cool info, Skies!

(scribbles in 'check Brazilian military rankings' between 'name new monster attacks' and 'eat spicy lunch at local Chinese noodle shop' on list of things to do today)