Something I've never understood about FFXIV is how submarine voyages have stayed walled off the way they have. The whole direction of the game over the years has been toward making content accessible to everyone, and yet this entire system, along with the exclusive items and crafting materials tied to it, is only available to players who either run an FC or happen to be in one where the leadership hands out workshop permissions.

If you don't fit into one of those two boxes, your only option is the market board, which in a system this gated is going to get monopolized. A solo player can't just decide they want to work toward a specific item and actually go do it. Playing without an FC isn't punished anywhere else in the game, but here it is.

The usual response is "just make your own one-person FC and buy a house." I get that it works, but it's a workaround, not a fix. It basically means the intended way for a solo player to engage with this content is to exploit a loophole, which to me says the system itself needs another look.

I'm assuming giving every player a personal workshop in their apartment or house is a bigger logistical headache than it sounds. But what about a shared/public workshop in each ward's apartment building for players in this situation? I'm not asking for the progression itself to be shortened, sub voyages are a long-haul system and that's fine.

What stands out to me is the kind of wall this is. Everywhere else in the game, what's keeping you out of something is the game itself, your level, your gear, your job, your progress through the MSQ. Submarines are the one case I can think of where the thing standing between me and the content is another player's permission. Whether I get to participate comes down to whether someone with the right FC rank decides to grant me access. That's a pretty unusual spot for a system to be in, and it's really the core of what I'd like to see looked at.