"Free Company Houses" should not exist, they only encourage "personal/solo FC's"

[Seraphor]

People say it provides an active ward, but I have yet to see that.

Every FC I've been in, we've always used the FC house as a home base and usually congregate in and around it. It has a marketboard and bell right there so it's pretty convenient.
There's usually at least one other FC in the ward that has done the same, so there's been inter-FC interaction too.
Obviously it requires at least a medium sized FC to make a meaningful difference, at least 5-10 active members.

[Padudu]

Ah, signs of activity: semi-AFK FC members congregating around a marketboard lol. Active ward indeed! Too much pretty much 98% of a ward remains lifeless and dead.

[Seraphor]

Ah, signs of activity: semi-AFK FC members congregating around a marketboard lol. Active ward indeed! Too much pretty much 98% of a ward remains lifeless and dead.

what kind of activity are you expecting? a parade?

[Padudu]

what kind of activity are you expecting? a parade?

Idk, maybe more activity than 5 AFK/crafting people and maybe more than 1 person outside than the apartment complex every once in a while? We have direct teleports to houses and such, so not like anyone has any incentive to actually walk through a ward lol. I don't expect it to be bussin' like Limsa, but I wouldn't really call a group of FC members congregating outside their yard a sign of an active ward lol. Just a sign of an active FC.

[george357]

wow so many stress makers trying to flip everything been here playing sence arr have my house and will keep it as long as i can as for the rest of you do what you want but leave me and my house alone.

[GeminiReed]

Idk, maybe more activity than 5 AFK/crafting people and maybe more than 1 person outside than the apartment complex every once in a while? We have direct teleports to houses and such, so not like anyone has any incentive to actually walk through a ward lol. I don't expect it to be bussin' like Limsa, but I wouldn't really call a group of FC members congregating outside their yard a sign of an active ward lol. Just a sign of an active FC.

Even if I had to walk through a ward what incentive is there for me to engage with an FC that's not my own? They're unlikely to invite me to do content because their party or parties are full up. If they're chatting it's more than likely going to be in FC chat, linkshell chat or on voice comms. Even if they tried to include me I'd likely miss have the in-jokes anyway.

[Akira]

getting rid of personal housing and having fc only housing doesn't stop the solo owned FC's from owning a house. only way i can see it working is if they required you to have 3 people to be present to buy the house and if the fc drops below that it is auto disbanded and house demolished

[Divinemights]

Can’t you guys just get over with it and wait for next release?

[Yshtola_Cat]

Can’t you guys just get over with it and wait for next release?

No, they can't, let them have their tantrum for our entertainment.

[Raven2014]

Being PART of an active Free Company actually makes players MORE invested in the game. There's a lot of content that you can only really run in a static, and while a robust suite of options exist for FINDING groups, the fact is that players will almost always flock to running content with people they actually know.

That's quite an assumption you made mates.

I've been playing this game for like ... 8 years now? And I was in various FCs, including one where I was a member of the core raid group. But by the mid Heavenward, I have been in a solo FC by myself all the way till now, and probably will be until the day I decide to quit the game. Suffice to say, I probably wouldn't play the game that much or even stay in this long had I been in an FC all those years.


There are tons of reason for it:

- First, you are completely oversale the need of an FC. This is not a pre-2015 environment any more where we only have teamspeak and ventrilo, which only used 90% for raid time. We have so many other meaningful way to form group and stay in contact with people of like interest, and often with way better mean than using what available in game. And even without external mean, the game has matured to a point where 99% you can do with FC members, you can do with people outside like Linkshell and world travelling. 99% is just me being cautious in case I may have missed something, but like ... is there anything at all in the game that you can only do with FC members?



- Second, I find by not joining an FC, but being a solo-player while keeping grouping to others method (like discord) give me the right healthy "distance" in relationships with other players. We do stuffs together, have fun, talking crap ...etc... but at the same time there is no string attached. If we lose interest, we say goodbye and that's about it. There is no need nor worry about drama/gosship/backstapping like there is in joining an FC.


So basically, solo-player like myself can enjoy 90% of what an FC player can, while at the same time don't have to worry about 90% of the crap an FC player potentially have to deal with. I used to have a personal house back when I was an FC player (back in 2.0) that I kept for over year, but eventually I sold that "crap" because after the initial honeymoon die down, it's just a piece of oversize trophy that offer almost no benefit. Becoming a solo player with my own FC-house is the best decision I have ever made in the 8 years of playing, and probably the main reason why I still playing after 8 years.