Hey everyone,
For those of you out there like me who wish to switch between and max rank Grand Companies, please read what I have to say before you consider anything:
I started off as Maelstrom, max leveled and completed all Hunting Logs (3/3).
The Maelstrom Officer who gives out promotions said I've reached the point where no more promotions are available - but I was able to switch between Grand Companies now.
I switched to Uldah... the NPC only mentioned the first time you switch is free and the next time will cost some money. He also mentioned any stuff purchased from your GC will be frozen and unusable till you switch back.
AFTER I changed Grand Companies.... Hunters log still showed 3/3 Maelstrom, and under Character Tab - Currency, it still showed my 34,000/50,000 Maelstrom Seals (Basically it seemed to me that everything was working great). It showed both Seals, Maelstrom & Flame. It showed both GC hunters Log in the menu. Both Icons were clickable/viewable. Same with clickable currency/seal cycle UI box....I logged out.
Next day, The UI is no longer showing Maesltrom Seals, nor does it show the icon for Maelstrom anymore in my Hunters Log. Almost as if the progress was not saved.
-Additionally, after I max ranked my second Grand Company - Uldah Flames, I was going to see if I switched back to Maelstrom if all my Hunters log & Maelstrom Seal progress was still saved. But....
The promotion officer NOW mentions there is a 30-day cooldown to switch between Grand Companies. This was not mentioned by any NPC prior to making the initial first switch.
It was also not mentioned when the on-screen help popped up explaining changing allegiances when you unlocked it for the first time.
Somewhere in the game I hope they tell players about the cooldown BEFORE you switch allegiances. I'm not even sure if I still have those Seals or the progress in the log, it DID show both Flame and Maelstrom seals and progress before I logged. Both icons were clickable in the Hunters Log, and the seals i could click through on my 'UI GIL Icon' as well as see them in currency tab.
I really hope this post will help others before they make the mistake of changing.
Thanks