Grand Companies

[BillyKaplan]

Honestly, the only real thing that would seem to be preventing just allowing us open access to work for all 5 members of the Alliance, are due to the inexplicable nature of GC seals being named.

I feel like they can work around that if they want. Like you said, our progress doesn't go away when we switch, and there already is in-game a flag that says which GC we're affiliated with. They could easily make it accessible to us from the Character Profile menu and we decide which seals we want to earn from fates and roulettes. Obviously if we send out our squad in the name of a specific GC, it will cost and earn us those seals, and any hand-ins will give the seals for the GC we handed the stuff to.
Wind-Up leader can also continue working with that particular flag, only now we'll be able to change it.

That, in addition to allowing us to get higher ranks, would give a ton of content within the GC's, which has for a large part, been neglected for a while... (Especially Company Chocobo's...) With only relatively minor additions infrequently (Such as the last rank added in 4.4 that added... Some new weapons to buy and 10k higher seal cap)

I'd prefer they invested in the existing GCs first before they expand it to two more bodies. Getting unique quests would be a start, even if it would only be stuff like "run this dungeon instead of that one". GC ranks are already level-locked thanks to DD and AV, they could easily lock the later ranks behind 50, 60 or even 70 dungeons, where there's more than one pick. Or a Primal run that's relevant to that GC.

All in a way that would fit in better with our role as a Scion, where we have to remain unbiased, as well as our "Everybody be friends" attitude that we bring to the members.

Eh. I'd rather they kept our role as a Scion out of it. Because if the story made sense inthat way, we wouldn't hold rank in any GC in the first place. And that's before all the complications of Hien permitting someone like us to hold position and rank in his budding military force. It only works if we, as well as all involved in-game, turn a blind eye to our WoL status and only acknowledge us as Adventurers.

[thantaimetmoi]

pretty sure 5.0+

[Daralii]

True, from a Scion perspective, they should unlock all 3 GC's for us to work for. I mean, it's already possible to pretty easily swap between them, it just costs 50k gil each time. Doesn't even reset your rank for a GC...

That said, from a Scion perspective, we've actually been helping the GC's put aside their differences and work together as a whole. Basically with every interaction from HW and onwards with GC's has been in the form of the Eorzean Alliance, consisting of all 3 GC's and eventually Ishgard's Temple Knights and Doma's Shinobi (Or Enclave Guard).

Honestly, the only real thing that would seem to be preventing just allowing us open access to work for all 5 members of the Alliance, are due to the inexplicable nature of GC seals being named. (That and trying to prevent us from having multiple squadrons to... Farm XP/Gil boosters on a weekly basis?). Perhaps also a small issue with the Wind-Up Leader minion? (Though, that could surely just be split into the 3 minions it summons based on GC affiliation...)

Though, it does bring up something interesting as a design point for when they get around to introducing the rest of the ranks.

Like, if they do open up all of the Alliance Militaries for us to work for. Changing Seals to be generic seals (Or "Alliance Seals" if you wish) and allowing us to work our way up the ranks of The Maelstrom, The Order of the Twin Adder, The Immortal Flames, The Temple Knights and Doma's Shinobi/Enclave Guards. That would be neat. Opening up 2 new themes of items from the HW/SB members. Along with some more achievements and titles.

That, in addition to allowing us to get higher ranks, would give a ton of content within the GC's, which has for a large part, been neglected for a while... (Especially Company Chocobo's...) With only relatively minor additions infrequently (Such as the last rank added in 4.4 that added... Some new weapons to buy and 10k higher seal cap)

All in a way that would fit in better with our role as a Scion, where we have to remain unbiased, as well as our "Everybody be friends" attitude that we bring to the members.

I assume that we'll see at least some changes to how GCs work in Shadowbringers. One of the first things they advertised was rebuilding Ishgard, and one of the points Varis used to attack Aymeric(and one that seemed to get under his skin) was their lack of a Grand Company. I'm hoping that it's a hint toward them adding a fourth, and that presents a good excuse for them to play around with how things function.

[Kalise]

I'd prefer they invested in the existing GCs first before they expand it to two more bodies. Getting unique quests would be a start, even if it would only be stuff like "run this dungeon instead of that one". GC ranks are already level-locked thanks to DD and AV, they could easily lock the later ranks behind 50, 60 or even 70 dungeons, where there's more than one pick. Or a Primal run that's relevant to that GC.

True, getting more on the current GC's would be priority.

Though, it would make some sense for them to add stuff alongside new content. For example, with the Rebuilding of Ishgard that's coming in ShB, working for the Temple Knights makes some sense.

Eh. I'd rather they kept our role as a Scion out of it. Because if the story made sense inthat way, we wouldn't hold rank in any GC in the first place. And that's before all the complications of Hien permitting someone like us to hold position and rank in his budding military force. It only works if we, as well as all involved in-game, turn a blind eye to our WoL status and only acknowledge us as Adventurers.

Well, if they plan on doing anything involving content beyond level 50 (I.e. Had level 60+ equipment) then at some point, it's going to have to cross paths with us as Scions. Since, when we joined, sure we were just random nobody adventurers. Maybe we'd worked with GC's to take down some Primals. But in HW and beyond we start to hold a position above that of mere adventurer when we're dealing with GC's and especially their leaders.

Having a rank in a GC doesn't necessarily conflict with being a Scion. Especially if the rank was more honorary than being fully fledged member of the city state's military. Especially given that throughout HW we were a Ward of House Fortemps and we fought for Ishgard in the Grand Melee...

Since, if we were able to work for all GC's rather than being locked to a specific one (Outside of swapping) then it could be seen as just a reward for taking time out from our busy schedule of punching Primals and Ascians to help with some more mundane duties for the GC's (Such as ridding Haukke Manor of Voidsent for the umpteenth time). Wherein we're not showing preference to a particular city state or GC (By for example, being locked out of other GC work) but are just using our more flexible role within the Scions to allow us to aid those that request it.

As that's sort of a theme for us as the WoL. We're not as strictly bound to any particular group. Like, yes, we've enrolled in a particular GC, but we're not expected to be called upon willy nilly and just show up when we feel like it to help out. Yes, we're also a member of the Scions, but even they occasionally mention how we go off and do other non-Scion activities in our spare time.

With regards to Hien allowing us to hold a rank in his military force, we kind of already do. While we don't really interact with the Enclave Guard beyond funding its start up, we're pretty close with the Shinobi especially given we worked with them when they were in Mor Dhona. Which is why we were sent with them in Ghimlyt, because they felt more comfortable with us around. To say nothing of the major part we played in the liberation of Doma, which, while we're not credited to much in front of the Doman citizens, it wouldn't be too hard for Hien to respond to any queries about our involvement/rank within the Doman military (Given that we're not only foreigners, but also adventurers) by simply stating how he "Wouldn't have been able to free Doma without [our] help". Since, while the people wouldn't know exactly what part we played, they're probably going to trust Lord Hien's judgement for the exception that would be us.

Explicitly with our involvement as the WoL being easier to justify something like this. Especially in regards to higher ranks. It's much easier to have it make sense when it's "The WoL is the exception that allows an adventurer to hold a high rank in our military" coming from the leaders rather than trying to figure out how a military organization would allow for any old adventurer to progress past mere grunt work (Heck, even that is suspect honestly, given that troops tend to need to be able to rely on their allies and so form some sort of bond. Having a random no-name adventurer come and join them for kicks and giggles would lead to discontent within the ranks as well as distrust between people that are supposed to co-operate)