Should I remain FCless?

[Zaniel]

Every time I seem to be in a FC it is never as social as they claim to be I miss out on doing events due to my schedule unless I decide to stay up and sleep less for work. All these FC's that try and promote never live up to their promises of what they were promoting and I rather not start my own. I already had someone steal a bunch of things when I ran one and trying to run it stressed me out

Been in a LOT of varied guilds in multiple games over the years, from small friend clique guilds to mega-sized world first clans and my views on how to best join a clan/guild/FC have changed over time. There''s a lot of factors in successfully finding a suitable FC but across all that experience two things have been pretty constant. Focused guilds are easier to work with than generalist guilds, guilds who claim to do everything rarely do anything but guilds who are razor focused on like 1 or 2 things "generally" have a higher likelihood of maintaining momentum due to a core group of interested players (be this hard core raiding or house/glam building/RPing, doesn't matter). The second is that large guilds usually have more critical mass and staying power than small guilds, sad but true. I don't mean the mega-church guilds with 400 players all doing their own thing but more the 30-40 people who are all in there for the same reason. While large guilds do have negatives they are usually offset by the fact they take longer to implode and can handle turnover/fatigue.

I know people will have different takes but if you want a sustainable guild I would look for one with solid numbers and facilities and goals, not a tiny guild, or a "social-we-want-to-do-everything" guild. If you can find these two things and are capable of putting up with a few people who aren't "your kinda people" but you can work with in a business-like way then that's a better chance of finding a long term home than most. Most big cross-game clans that seem like life-long bros aren't really a few school buddies, they grow into those clans because the members learn to be more scalable and business-like and BECOME friends as a result of that building process.

[AlyaNimfa]

Every time I seem to be in a FC it is never as social as they claim to be I miss out on doing events due to my schedule unless I decide to stay up and sleep less for work. All these FC's that try and promote never live up to their promises of what they were promoting and I rather not start my own. I already had someone steal a bunch of things when I ran one and trying to run it stressed me out

Funny, I’m on Hyperion too! I’ve found the exact same problem, and currently have no fc.

They always start out great then end up feeling like you’re playing a solo game. I do talk and stuff, and usually get people to chat for a bit, but I get sick of always being the one to start things.

[Yalana]

I asked myself same question many times since a day I purchase a game. Should I join FC or not? Even I am playing mostly solo still it feels kind a lonely. But my previous experience with guilds (aka FC in FF XIV) during last years was not so bright. When I joined I was hoping to meet social people who are ready to help with different stuff and even just to talk but in the end, it led to pretty stupid grindfest where I became just a tool of the guild. My first great experience with guilds was back in 2003-2004 when I played WoW and people really enjoyed and lived with this game like I did myself, unfortunately it changed very fast and not in good direction.
To be honest when I started to play FF XIV I did not expect something different from community and was ready for the worse but so far people are quite nice here – they are positive and communicative. I hope one day I can find FC with good people with whom I can enjoy spending time.

[Vatom]

I don't entirely see the point to anymore
If your feeling lonely go interact with players (its pretty much the same thing) or Touch some grass... JK
The buffs really only matter for Crafting so if your not doing that then don't worry about them
FC house is no different then a regular one
But if your want to scratch that itch just join a random one and enjoy your chaos

[LianaThorne]

If the issue is that your life schedule doesn't necessarily work with a typical FC event schedule (for example, you work nights), might be an idea to look for one that has members in a different time zone/country. That way, you may have a chance to run into events and such during your active hours, compared to always missing them due to work.

As far as people stealing things, that just comes down to setting permissions on the chest properly and not giving out high ranks to people you don't know well yet.

[Canadane]

I've never not been in a FC, mine has existed in some form since 1.0.
While it's on the larger side, some people have had odd expectations from it.
While we can be social, many of our players aren't online all the time so we are social in discord. To someone who isn't keen on discord, they'll miss out on a bunch of chit chat from our members mingling.
While we have contests and events, they aren't daily. But always given much advance notice or entry time. In fact I've been hinting at our annual summer glam contest for a while now, gotta get the hype up!

With everyone in different parts of the MSQ or raid tier, or just general direction in how to play, it's a miracle so many of the FC members raid together! But at the same time it makes it hard for people to drop in a "Hey who wants to run endsinger ex real quick" and more of a "Hey I posted a signup to farm endsinger ex in discord for the weekend"

Either way I love them all they're people I interact with all the time. It'd be hard not to enjoy the continued company.
So I don't think you should remain FCless, unless you really want to play the game solo. I hope you can find something that suits you. If you happen to cross paths with me though, fellow Hyperion player, shoot me a tell. I don't bite. :3

[NekoMataMata]

its kind of a personal decision and not one that you will get a good answer to on the forums.

basically boils down to "do you want to be in one"

you say you miss out on things due to your schedule, and then say they are not living up to promises.

its usually a two way street. if they are in a different time zone, or you work all nights and sleep all day when most are on, your expectations are unlikely to be met. so hard to say what promises, in your situation, they are not "living up to"

This is one of the best answers. I'm not the most social person and I miss a lot of my FC's events but when I feel socialable and when I have the time to talk(usually discord), I make an attempt. And that attempt is met with a good response, so I'm happy.

But you have to make some attempt. You can't just immediately expect your fc to carry conversations and drag you into events and other stuff.

[Taralyne]

I would love to be in a FC.My problem is I was born deaf and almost all the ones I have looked at use discord for chat.
Which is fine,not there fault I cant talk.But just from playing other MMOs no one believes you.Like if your char is female
You must be guy and just saying you are.Even though FF shows my PS I.D for some reason.So I just kina lone wolf it.
l even went to a Aus.Server from NA feels like a solo game since most are sleeping when I play.So just kind of shy about even trying to join
one any more.

[RitsukoSonoda]

I would love to be in a FC.My problem is I was born deaf and almost all the ones I have looked at use discord for chat.
Which is fine,not there fault I cant talk.But just from playing other MMOs no one believes you.Like if your char is female
You must be guy and just saying you are.Even though FF shows my PS I.D for some reason.So I just kina lone wolf it.
l even went to a Aus.Server from NA feels like a solo game since most are sleeping when I play.So just kind of shy about even trying to join
one any more.

Discord has text chat as well.

Anyway I wouldn't worry about it. The ppl that don't read things have already been hauled off by Apple for experiments they agreed to...

[Zaniel]

I would love to be in a FC.My problem is I was born deaf and almost all the ones I have looked at use discord for chat.
Which is fine,not there fault I cant talk.But just from playing other MMOs no one believes you.Like if your char is female
You must be guy and just saying you are.Even though FF shows my PS I.D for some reason.So I just kina lone wolf it.
l even went to a Aus.Server from NA feels like a solo game since most are sleeping when I play.So just kind of shy about even trying to join
one any more.

This might sound weird but there are a number of FCs around, for example the LGBTQ clans who are deliberately set up to be inclusive spaces for people who are socially/physically/etc-varied. I don't know about deafness specifically but I am sure these sorts of more socially mature clans would be able to accommodate you. Also, even if most clans list Discord it is VERY common for clans to use Discord but for text only, not voice, there are plenty of members who just use Discord as a forum/notice board and not for its VOIP.