[Request] Free Companies need some updates

[Liam_Harper]

there are lots of 1 person FC's. how are they supposed to do "group" content?

Branch out and invite members, or join a larger FC.
That's like saying there's a lot of people who play solo, how are they supposed to beat Alliance raids? They aren't.

it's this kind of elitism that makes me glad XIV is the way it is. It's just enough for my tastes. this kind of mentality is suited more to WOW imo.

There's nothing elitist about wanting each piece of content to be aimed towards the player who actually enjoys that content.

I'd like fishers to be able to fish up useful/valuable fish. Crafters to have challenging crafts that put their endgame sets to use. Dungeon fanatics to have engaging hard dungeons instead of bland corridors of easy enemies. Free companies to have calenders, events, perks for those who love social communities. Healers to actually have something to heal. Tanks to have something to do besides 1-2-3 and press a cd twice per fight. Relic weapons to actually be viable. PvP to have a real combat toolkit. Achievement points to do something when you collect a lot. Better Triple Triad rewards. 8 man normal to be more than a weekly 10 minute chore for your token. And so on...

But we can't have any of that, because give even one of those activities a real reward or challenge and someone who has no interest in that specific content at all will start creating a fuss because they want the reward too.
So the result is either the content is watered down and hardly worth doing so the reward can be handed over, or the reward simply removed. Basically what I said, we all end up getting less due to greed.

But yes, I'm being elitist because I don't want everything wrecked for those who love it, so it can be handed to me on a plate.

[Rilifane]

it's this kind of elitism that makes me glad XIV is the way it is. It's just enough for my tastes. this kind of mentality is suited more to WOW imo.

There is nothing elitist about it.
You cannot include every player into everything regardless of how much effort they are willing to put forth. You don't need to have everything right away just because it's there. You can chose to do what you enjoy and leave out the rest. Thinking you need to do some type of content just because there is a reward is a result of one's own greed and denying others something because you would not enjoy participating is even more selfish and greedy.
While this may be a game that's supposed to be fun, it can't be the excuse for everything. If someone prioritizes having their own FC with chest and everything that's their choice. Something is obviously more important to them than guild events etc. and that's fine - but they have no right to demand that others are denied content simply because they have different priorities.
Even in a game it comes down to making choices. Theoretically you could have everything - provided that you meet the prerequisites. A lot of content can already be done at a later time after it was made easier, be it raids, relics, leveling crafters, getting master reciped, getting glamour, getting mounts.

People who genuinly care about content (like more meaningful guilds) are the ones suffering because people who do not care about it (people who dislike socialising in this case) are asking for it to be made more 'approachable' so they have to spent less time with it. Not every type of content has to be made for everyone.
When it comes to designing content it's not the people who would do it begrudgingly at best for no other reason except that it's there and they therefor need to 'have' it that should be taken into consideration but people who enjoy or might enjoy said content.

[DrWho2010]

Branch out and invite members, or join a larger FC.
That's like saying there's a lot of people who play solo, how are they supposed to beat Alliance raids? They aren't.

Social anxiety and lack of network is a thing too. Many people find it hard to make friends in the game or find people that will fit their lifestyle.

There's nothing elitist about wanting each piece of content to be aimed towards the player who actually enjoys that content.

They already do. It's just not good enough for you in your opinion. I think it's fine where it is. but we'll never see eye to eye.

I'd like fishers to be able to fish up useful/valuable fish. Crafters to have challenging crafts that put their endgame sets to use. Dungeon fanatics to have engaging hard dungeons instead of bland corridors of easy enemies. Free companies to have calenders, events, perks for those who love social communities. Healers to actually have something to heal. Tanks to have something to do besides 1-2-3 and press a cd twice per fight. Relic weapons to actually be viable. PvP to have a real combat toolkit. Achievement points to do something when you collect a lot. Better Triple Triad rewards. 8 man normal to be more than a weekly 10 minute chore for your token. And so on...

you'd probably have to increase the dev team 10-fold to get that done.

But we can't have any of that, because give even one of those activities a real reward or challenge and someone who has no interest in that specific content at all will start creating a fuss because they want the reward too.
So the result is either the content is watered down and hardly worth doing so the reward can be handed over, or the reward simply removed. Basically what I said, we all end up getting less due to greed.

But yes, I'm being elitist because I don't want everything wrecked for those who love it, so it can be handed to me on a plate.

i think you're being overly dramatic but this isn't an MMO of yesterday. it's an MMO that can be accessible for those who can maybe log in just a couple hours a day or maybe even just a weekend. all these kind of things would make people feel the need to play 24/7. this isn't that kind of game.

[DrWho2010]

There is nothing elitist about it.
You cannot include every player into everything regardless of how much effort they are willing to put forth. You don't need to have everything right away just because it's there. You can chose to do what you enjoy and leave out the rest. Thinking you need to do some type of content just because there is a reward is a result of one's own greed and denying others something because you would not enjoy participating is even more selfish and greedy.

People already be salty because savage has extra content to it that a casual can't access. you want more of that? how long have you been playing the game? you should know by now that's not how the dev philosophy works here.

While this may be a game that's supposed to be fun, it can't be the excuse for everything.

I disagree. Fun should be first and foremost. Yoshi-p said it himself. "If you're not having fun, you're doing it wrong." True fun is subjective. but what the devs do accomplishes making things fun and encompasses the majority of the playerbase.

People who genuinly care about content (like more meaningful guilds) are the ones suffering....

i would suggest go playing another game that would satisfy this interest then.

[Solarra]

there are lots of 1 person FC's. how are they supposed to do "group" content?

If you make a single-person FC then you've basically decided you don't want to do group content with a consistent group of friends, so why should you get the rewards?
FCs were never meant to be single-player but if that's the way you want to play, then the devs have made sure that they are viable. However, I'm not sure it's fair that you get exactly the same rewards that you do when co-operating with other people.

In a single-person FC
- You have complete control over buffs, it's always going to be the 2 that you want
- You have the FC chest to yourself
- You have the workshop and all the subs and airships (and their loot) to yourself
- You are allowed to purchase 2 houses and have them all to yourself

That's a pretty hefty advantage over people in a FC where they have to share resources. To be honest, I think that's enough.

FCs with an average number of members have absolutely nothing to do together. Even in this thread, people have said that FCs are pointless and irrelevant. That's a shame; for a lot of us it's the social ties that keep us subbed and make the content memorable.
I don't think it's unreasonable to ask the devs to think about introducing something for FCs that can't be done solo. I know they tried it with the crafting, but what killed that was the absolutely horrible design. 3 people afk while one person crafts is not a group activity. I don't want a repeat of that, but something that FCs can do together, where everyone participates, would be a nice addition to the game (maybe something like the Diadem II (combat or gathering), or the pvp activities someone suggested earlier).

I know that would leave people in single-person FCs excluded but I don't think that's at all unfair. You could always let more people into your FC if you want to participate.

[Liam_Harper]

Social anxiety and lack of network is a thing too. Many people find it hard to make friends in the game or find people that will fit their lifestyle.

There are FC's out there for people with social anxiety. I have social anxiety myself.

Besides, why should the entire game be denied enjoyable FC content, structure and rewards because a handful prefer not to participate. I'm fairly sure even the people in one person FC's would hate to learn that their choice of playstyle meant the devs were denying hundreds of thousands of other players something they'd enjoy. That's not what they want and not why they're in a one person FC.

[DrWho2010]

There are FC's out there for people with social anxiety. I have social anxiety myself.

Besides, why should the entire game be denied enjoyable FC content, structure and rewards because a handful prefer not to participate. I'm fairly sure even the people in one person FC's would hate to learn that their choice of playstyle meant the devs were denying hundreds of thousands of other players something they'd enjoy. That's not what they want and not why they're in a one person FC.

that's a lot of assumptions there.

[Rilifane]

Social anxiety and lack of network is a thing too. Many people find it hard to make friends in the game or find people that will fit their lifestyle.

There are FCs specifically for people with social anxiety.
And besides, I'd like to kindly you remind you that MMO still stands for massively multiplayer online. While this does not mean people with social anxiety should not play this game at all it is a subtle hint that this game also includes group content and that if you prefer to play alone for whatever reason this type of content is probably not for you. But using this as an excuse to prevent this content from ever being implemented for people who would is selfish beyond words.
It's nothing more than "Someone might not be able to have it so nobody should have it!".
Social anxiety exists. Physical and cognitive disabilities exist. Extremely busy shift work exists. Poor internet/ hardware exists.
They all exist and get acknowledged by the devs. They hinder some people from experiencing the game the same way that others do but that does not mean that everything must be designed in a way that enables people to experience every type of content the same way people without social anxiety/ disabilities/ poort internet/ busy schedule would.
This is not elitmism, it's called reality.
The game tries its best to cater to those people aswell with things like colorblind mode, playing it with a controller or m/kb, option to pug or come back later unsync/ with echo etc.
But suggesting that content designed for more sociable people who enjoy guild events and such should not be implemented because single person FCs and people with social anxiety exists is taking it too far. You are denying content to a huge amount of players because part of them may not enjoy doing it.

People already be salty because savage has extra content to it that a casual can't access. you want more of that? how long have you been playing the game? you should know by now that's not how the dev philosophy works here.

Since ARR launch, thanks for asking. Which means I've been around long enough to know that the philosophy regarding some types of content changed. And you keep thinking that just because someone cannot get rewards as fast as people who put in more effort is excluded. A casual is not excluded from savage or its rewards. They may get their rewards at a later date than people who are pushing but they do not get excluded.
They are simply not welcome in e5-e8 weekly clear parties if they have never set foot into savage and only want that pretty piece of armor, which is quite reasonable.

I disagree. Fun should be first and foremost. Yoshi-p said it himself. "If you're not having fun, you're doing it wrong." True fun is subjective. but what the devs do accomplishes making things fun and encompasses the majority of the playerbase.

And in no way did I say that fun is not important which you would have noticed if you spent time actually reading and understanding what I wrote instead of jumping to conclusions and implying things I never wrote. I simply wrote that the fact that a game is supposed to be fun cannot be used as an excuse for everything. Because that's what it boils down to: wanting something that has been designed with a different type of player in mind and then saying "But I thought a game is supposed to be fun! So why can't I get it the way I want?".
There are players who enjoy solo-play and story, who love crafting, gathering and all sorts of grindy stuff, who enjoy challenging group content, who enjoy collecting things... and naturally, different content is tailored to different types of players with some overlapping which is impossible to avoid.
Not all content will be to your liking because the playerbase is quite diverse in its interests. And to keep it as diverse, every group needs some content that's for them.

i would suggest go playing another game that would satisfy this interest then.

Yes, because "play something different then if you don't like it!" is such a fantastic argument when someone criticises your posts.
I'm touched you are so worried about me not having fun but I can assure you, I do. I simply don't agree with you. So let's stop using this as an excuse to get me to shut up, shall we?

[Paladinleeds]

Honestly, there needs to be good FC exclusive group content. Right now, FCs are mostly irrelevant. And I think that needs to change. Look at casual (and possibly midcore) statics for example. They're mostly groups of people spread across the datacentre. Now imagine if they made it so Savage content could only be accessed if everyone in the group was in the same FC. Yes, it kills pugs, but it gives FCs some more meaning. And honestly, I wouldn't be opposed to them changing Savage to be like that (even though I know it'll never happen).

Why? Because atm, it seems like FCs are an afterthought in this game, simply added because WoW has guilds and FFXIV needed an answer to guilds. But as for this FC group content... if it locks out 1-man FCs and people not in an FC (which I will be when I move back to Omega)... GOOD! That's exactly the point of it, to push people towards FCs that aren't 1-person FCs. And if you're not willing to join an FC group in order to partake in this content, then you're not the intended market for this FC. Let's take PvP as an example. Some really nice looking rewards from PvP. But I'm not the target market for PvP, so I don't get the rewards. And frankly, that's OK! Not every thing has to appeal to every person.

[AnimaAnimus]

there are lots of 1 person FC's. how are they supposed to do "group" content?

This is about the most laughable and facepalmy answer for an MMO.

i would suggest go playing another game that would satisfy this interest then.

If you don't want to do group content, why are you not playing a single player game? That road goes two ways.

it's this kind of elitism that makes me glad XIV is the way it is. It's just enough for my tastes. this kind of mentality is suited more to WOW imo.

And when you don't agree the old "elitist" and "go back to WoW" is immediately deployed. I mean, its just cringy.