Free Companies

[Damra]

Hello all!

Relatively new to the game, but have been grinding MSQ throughout - as I've now got to extreme trials and looking to clearing Stormblood soon, I was thinking of looking for a fairly large an active Free Company with which to familiarise myself with both higher end mechanics, and - hopefully! - run a few dungeons/extreme trials with.

Hopefully, once I unlock the end game content I would like the opportunity to work with them on these as well.

While I am happy to research a boss beforehand, I'm also well aware from not having worked with a set team throughout levelling so far that it comes with it's disadvantages. On the fly adaptation to different players playstyles as the Duty Finder sees fit to put me with, when it comes to higher end bosses, will only get me so far... And in some ways causes all involved more issues than is needed. And I don't much like the idea of being the cause of a wipe where it is unnecessary, being unfamilair with an ability or certain tactic where the stakes are higher. Seeing and hearing is much different than experiencing XD

So my first question: is this the correct place to be asking? If not, any help appreciated, pointing me in the right direction.

Second: How would I go about contacting free companies directly besides randomly clicking on a player and bugging them with tells?

Any help appreciated!

Cheers.

[Casti_EL]

Welcome to the game Damra.

Firstly, yes, new player questions are more than welcome in here and the community will help any way they can (you'll find FFXIV has one of the best/most helpful communities out there). Although some later boss mechanics can seem complex most turn out to be quite easy once you get the hang of it - most mechanics can be broken down to: avoid AoE, stack-up, move-away. (Granted, not exclusive, there are some more "fun" mechanics which crop up). Personally whilst levelling I just watched a video on the dungeon/trial/raid I was due to go into, joined, explained I was new to the fight and got through absolutely fine. You'll find the majority of people are very accommodating to new people (especially if you let them know you are new and not just an alt) and will forgive any wipes.

When it comes to high-end/end-game then you may find you want a static as many players don't want randoms on progression fights (especially if you don't know the fight). There's plenty of FC's out there (many of which will be doing shout-out recruitments in the cities) but there is also FC information on the lodestone website, or check the forums for your server - many FC's post information there too. You can also see the FC information for any online player (and in some cases submit applications directly via that rather than sending tells) or join a linkshell which FC's may use for recruitment. You can also do a shout-out in the city state yourself to ask if any FC is recruiting.

As always, any questions/advice required - just pop a question in here and someone will be happy to help.

Hope this helps.

[Damra]

Thank you Casti_EL, it does

I'll have a check of the forums and hang around Limsa a bit in between dungeons XD

Trying to work my way through the backlog, only problem with grinding MSQ - side dungeons get left out. Re the videos, I try to make sure I'm as familiar with the mechanics as I can be before a fight as a rule of thumb, but wasn't sure how well that would carry over to the higher end of the end game content. A static is a static group I assume?

Though it was my understanding these weren't always from the same FC?

[Casti_EL]

No worries.

Depends on the videos - there are some really good ones that explain mechanics for virtually everything so you should be able to find some for end-game as well to get an over-view of the instance.

Yep, static is static group and no, they don't have to be from same FC - some are on same Linkshells, others are just in-game friends, etc.

[Damra]

ty sorted

[Tlamila]

As far as Free Companies go, or even Linkshells, now it's much easier because of the new Community Finder.
They just post there all their info and you can also comment directly, which imho makes it a lot easier. I remember digging between forums, lodestone, shouts and all to choose and it was a piece of work.

[ScottDoom]

When my wife and I were hunting for an FC to join, we took note of some of the more frequent FC tags we would see. Over the course of a week, we would send a tell to a random member we saw and ask what they thought of the FC they were in. We were specifically looking for an FC with frequent events, so we would ask about that.

Remember to View Company Profile on players in game to see the size of an FC and its current number of online payers.

One final note is there's nothing wrong with joining an FC and then leaving. Just drop a friendly note saying you're looking for something different and go.