suggestion: Free Grand Companies

[Daedal]

my thoughts are that a FGC/GFC? would be created by 2+ free companies for it's establishing (and administrative) companies but also allows the acceptance of additional companies and FCless members once the FGC is established.
up to a limit of 8 FCs and a 1 FC limit worth of FCless members.

you might ask why?

• well FC bloat is a problem. these members can move into the FGC without any real change to their current playstyle.
• sometimes FC's split up over differing interests even though it's not really a drama thing.
• sometimes differing groups that form cause drama because their interests and attitudes just aren't aligned
• sometimes small FCs have trouble finding enough members for a group run thus ensuring ease of practice without some rando getting all toxic.
• ect.

so we see some current problems but what how does it solve them and what positives could it could offer?

• FGCs would allow smaller friendly FCs to more easily work together.
  while also easing some of the issues faced with big FCs.
  
• people who don't care much for chatting or seeing a lot of chat but still enjoy joining when someone randomly asks if anyone wants to run a dungeon/trial/raid/AR/duty get exactly what they want by being a FCless member of a FGC.
  
• people who join FCs just for buffs should be able to pick a set of buffs from whichever FC has a set up at so they get what they want without being bloat members.
  
• it also allows for the naturally forming group of friends who feel like they'd be better off splitting into a new FC to not end up forcing people to entirely ditch one group for another.
  
• this allows FCs to be less bloated groups more focused on the members actually interested in being in them.
  
• allows for a more natural FC recruitment path from the FCless members within a FGC. especially when coupled with the following idea.

[Daedal]

it'd be nice to have some sort of instanced floating island housing areas bought by GCs.
with 8 plots for FC houses and a central FGC area/building where FCless members can buy a FC room.
it'd also be nice if FCs could purchase maybe 2 or 3 rooms each on their own in the FGC shared area/building to set up as utility/hangout/crafting spaces separate from FGC member rooms.

allow the plots to be set up as something premade (a pool/pond/market/maze/ect) by FGC officers so if the GC never gets a full 8 FCs they're not left with empty plots rather than something that still feels full.

ideally there'd also be the option for the FGC members to fund the purchase of something like an additional island to tie onto the FGC island for player housing. basically buying small neighborhood areas one at a time but that'd really just be a bonus.
if the entire FGC island is also split up into neighborhoods it could easily keep some areas from needing to be loaded that often and would also likely make them feel more lively as opposed to the empty feeling most housing wards have now because they're large and you almost never see anyone in them.


houses still remain under the same rules to keep.
that said this communal FC housing area idea brings up some issues.

• being kicked out of a FGC would mean losing your plot (similar to being kicked from a FC loses your fc room)
• being tied to a FGC could also cause some small FCs to feel tied to groups they may no longer want to be with

i imagine the solution would be to just move their house to something of a single plot instanced zone with a mini aetheryte (as if the FGC or your FC had broke it off and set your FC house adrift in the sky) until the FC join another FGC and purchase the plot available. player housing could easily be handled the same way i think.

even without the player housing addition i think this would also cause you to see in game the people you're more likely to play with more often and lead to better FC recruitment from FCless FGC members you often run into.

the islands themselves should be permanent for the FGC as long as one FC remains in it.

so while a FGC may always have a good base point to start back from (they'd already have an island and any neighborhood areas they purchased, as well all the communal utility/hangout/crafting rooms purchased by FCs) they'll still have to start from a lot of empty lots to revive the thing.

this in effect builds in game communities in game and lets them die off in game too without issue.

[SavishSalacious]

Why could you not edit your main post and add to it ?

[Random0]

Why could you not edit your main post and add to it ?

Based on the post count and join date, Daedal may not know about that workaround.

Basically, you can bypass the single-post character limit by making an initial post, then editing it - the edit for some reason lacks a character limit. For long posts, write it out in an external text program first then paste it into the post edit field.

[Jojoya]

I'm not certain why you think there is FC "bloat" causing problems. Can you give more detail?

I started going through all your points one by one but most of my responses can be summarized in one of two ways:

- The problems that you currently see will continue to exist in your FGC - and they'll probably end up worse in a few cases. More players means more personality conflicts and struggles for dominance, especially as membership changes over time.
- Discord is a great tool for communication and coordination both inside and outside a FC. I doubt SE would able to add something as useful to the game.

As for the housing suggestion, SE is already struggling with server resources for the existing wards. Adding what's effectively a new ward for each FGC created probably wouldn't be possible. You're also going to end up with a lot of drama when one FC decorates their plot in a way the other FCs hate and there's pressure to change it or get kicked from the FGC just so the others don't have to look at it.

FGCs are unlikely to end up the big happy extended family you seem to envision in your idea. It's better for FCs to remain separated and use other available tools for communication and coordination on those occasions they want to do things together.