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Pros and Cons: Large and Small Free Companies in FFXIVFollow

#1 Aug 11 2015 at 2:09 PM Rating: Excellent
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So a couple days ago we had an argument in which the viewpoint of one of our members of the Free Company clashed with a couple of others. Simply put, they got frustrated with one of the mechanics of the game and wanted to have a good rant about it. Unfortunately, that rant was opposed to some of the stances of other members and a heated discussion was had.

Fast forward to a couple days ago, and that first individual posted a heartfelt apology on the common chat board and people just hugged it out. Everyone understood what this person was going through on a personal level and understood the idea of just blowing off stress. Everyone felt the better for it all.

This sparked a thought in my head about what could have happened had such an argument sparked out in a larger Free Company. That member could have felt even further ostracized or isolated in arguing their opinion, or sides could have been taken and it could have been a much larger and harder to handle debate, forcing leadership to act heavily on it instead of just calming the matter down.

I've always only joined larger Guilds when they were first being made, helping them grow and be popular, then dropping out when the size became too large for my tastes. So I'm interested in seeing the viewpoints of those who prefer larger guilds.

So in this vein I'd like to start a new line of threads in the Community called Pros and Cons - where we look at pros and cons for subject that really don't have a straight right or wrong answer.

So a few questions to start: Are you in a Larger or Smaller Free Company (And how do you define that?)

What are some of the Pros and Cons, you see, to each kind of free company and why?

#2 Aug 11 2015 at 2:54 PM Rating: Good
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For a smaller Free Company, you have the advantage that everybody knows everybody. It feels like a close knit circle of friends, everyone's an equal in everyone's eyes, but in a larger FC, you'd have a hierarchy of some form. You also pointed out that issues would escalate out of control in a large FC, which usually does happen because the bonds are stretched so much thinner for everyone. Do you know the newest person(s) in a large FC? Its hard to know everyone close enough if you feel like you're in a sea of names.

Does so and so ever have time to just sit there with you and fish all day like a friend instead of constantly queuing up for raids? I guess for a large FC, you have the advantage of sheer numbers that there's just a larger pool where there could also be more talent, but a smaller FC will always seem to feel more close knit because everyone works so close together for a common goal.

I enjoy a smaller casual FC, we talk and find out what everyone's doing, if we have people doing crafting, but lack a way to get the materials, and someone has the time to get some, we're on it. I don't ever recall a large FC style setting where you could ever get that kind of cooperation. Its always "if I have some free time" but they NEVER have any free time. You end up doing lots of pick up groups to get some things done and they're always "Why didn't you ask me/us?" but you did... many times, over many months... nobody ever seems to have the time to spare for you, yet you're expected to catch up to the main group somehow.

Anyways, if you like large scale content like raiding, large FCs might be for you, but if you like a tighter band of friends, a small FC.
#3 Aug 11 2015 at 3:03 PM Rating: Good
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Across all the MMOs I've played I've mostly been in smaller or middle sized guilds. Right now I'm in what I'd call a small-middle sized FC. There are maybe 25 people who log on regularly, though it's rare to see more than 10 or 12 or so online at any given time outside of a raid night.

Personally that's my favorite size. Enough people that there's always someone to talk to and to run things with if you want but not so big that any one person gets lost in the crowd. I've been in smaller ones where there are really only 5-10 people total, and while it's nice to have such a tight knit group, it's really hard to get anything done as a group unless everyone is on at the same time.
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#4 Aug 11 2015 at 3:53 PM Rating: Good
Swarm counts as mid-size, I think. We have a good dozen very active members, and another dozen semi-active folks that log on a couple times a week. We don't actively recruit, but we have a cycle of people joining and taking a break.

Pros of mid size: Big enough to do things as a group. We were able to buy a mansion, for example, by pooling our resources together.

Cons: Not large enough for sub-groups. We don't do serious raiding - no Alex Savage for us - so members interested in that have to join outside statics. Our two gun-ho PVP enthusiasts are rather lonely.

Edited, Aug 11th 2015 5:56pm by Catwho
#5 Aug 11 2015 at 5:41 PM Rating: Excellent
I'm in a large FC... it's nice, because I know I'll be able to get through most content.

However, now that we have a story mode for the endgame raids, I don't really feel like being in a large FC is as necessary anymore. I'm perfectly happy staying out of savage mode and letting more hardcore players beat their heads against the wall.
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#6 Aug 11 2015 at 6:50 PM Rating: Excellent
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Thayos wrote:
I'm in a large FC... it's nice, because I know I'll be able to get through most content.

However, now that we have a story mode for the endgame raids, I don't really feel like being in a large FC is as necessary anymore. I'm perfectly happy staying out of savage mode and letting more hardcore players beat their heads against the wall.


That is true, though I believe more than half the members in Jormungandr haven't logged in in hundreds of days, if not more than a year. There's about...30-40, wouldn't you say?...who log in frequently, and some of those are alts. There's probably about another 20 who login semi-frequently.

Overall, I'd say we're fairly large in member numbers, but midsize in active members. I think small to midsize is ideal for getting to know each other and getting a lot done. It's also easier to cut down on drama. Large FC's have their perks too, of course.
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#7 Aug 11 2015 at 7:21 PM Rating: Decent
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Large FC:

Pro - Plenty to pick/choose from for stuff and higher probability of people having something you need and easier workshop accessibility on projects.
Con - No content for large FC in favor of DF balancing.
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#8 Aug 12 2015 at 10:41 AM Rating: Excellent
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Catwho wrote:
we have a cycle of people joining and taking a break.


And taking a break = getting sent to the night's watch... mwahahaha Smiley: sly

Small FC = The best control over activities but lack of people to run content.
Medium FC = Average amount of people to run content, but not enough for hardcore content (as Catwho says), and average control over FC functions. I find ours to be really polite, everyone seems to get along just fine.
Large FC = Bigger pot but more hands, more drama, more structured (meetings and the sort), less control for the average person, may not get to experience all FC content, but can have people to run all of the battles/etc.

Edited, Aug 12th 2015 11:47am by Valkayree
#9 Aug 12 2015 at 1:28 PM Rating: Good
Valkayree wrote:
Large FC = [...] more drama [...]

Some of the most disruptive drama I've ever seen has been in the smallest of linkshells in FFXI.
#10 Aug 13 2015 at 11:32 AM Rating: Decent
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Laverda wrote:
Valkayree wrote:
Large FC = [...] more drama [...]

Some of the most disruptive drama I've ever seen has been in the smallest of linkshells in FFXI.


Different group of people.
#11 Aug 14 2015 at 8:40 AM Rating: Excellent
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Laverda wrote:
Valkayree wrote:
Large FC = [...] more drama [...]

Some of the most disruptive drama I've ever seen has been in the smallest of linkshells in FFXI.


To be fair though, XI was a far more sociable and community driven game so it was much more likely to have drama when your accomplishments relied on people and said people decide to end their XI career by being a **** or stealing.
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#12 Aug 14 2015 at 12:26 PM Rating: Good
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Theonehio wrote:


To be fair though, XI was a far more sociable and community driven game so it was much more likely to have drama when your accomplishments relied on people and said people decide to end their XI career by being a **** or stealing.


It had to be. The game's artificial difficulty BROKE you if you didn't group up with people. Every soloist aside from careful BLMs and BSTs had to deal with abysmally slow leveling progress and near impossible quest (Unless you severely over-leveled the quest, unless of course, that zone had a level cap on it.)

Community born out of necessity and commiseration. In hindsight, I can't agree that such a community was a good one to have.

I feel FFXIV would be more social if there were more in-game tools to enable it. They're trying to give people tools out of game (The event calendar feature in lodestone, for instance.) And of course Party Finder did help. But there's not much in the way of tools to organize social events, aside from your normal FC/Personal housing items. And given how much people are progression driven, there's not much desire for it either, outside functions that are designed at their core to be social, such as Roleplaying.

That's part of the reason why I flat out chose to move form my Legacy server to Balmung - RP servers tend to be more active and social.
#13 Aug 19 2015 at 3:16 PM Rating: Excellent
Quote:
It had to be. The game's artificial difficulty BROKE you if you didn't group up with people. Every soloist aside from careful BLMs and BSTs had to deal with abysmally slow leveling progress and near impossible quest (Unless you severely over-leveled the quest, unless of course, that zone had a level cap on it.)


I'd love to resub to XI to do the latest expansion story + Rhapsodies, but I'm not even going to bother trying because I don't have the in-game social network required to succeed.
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#14 Aug 20 2015 at 5:59 AM Rating: Good
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I'm in a large (300+) FC on Balmung and I love it! We have about 80 people online every night during prime hours. Not all of them say much but the leaders make sure it stays clean so people aren't afraid to contribute. They have some RP linkshells, at least 10 endgame linkshells, weekly events, etc... This week is our 2nd anniversary and the leaders have planned tons of events and prizes. In the past they've even organized events in Baltimore at Medieval Times.

I will say that I'm not really close to everyone but this is probably on of the best run guilds I've ever been involved with.
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#15 Aug 20 2015 at 8:16 AM Rating: Excellent
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Small for me and I much prefer small to large or even medium in any game.

I find medium or large simply become too segregated anyway and somewhat phony. Ppl divide naturally into their own niche groups and tend to trivialize anyone outside that, I have no use for that.

We have enough to achieve the airship ventures and we have a medium home so (some also having their personal homes as well) tbh I dont see any limitations.

DF is more then adequate and has never held us back from doing what we enjoy achieving content wise, and actually we have met some very nice ppl there compared to the elitist ones in pf. {no thanks} (not all are like that but majority are)

:)
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#16 Aug 20 2015 at 9:18 AM Rating: Good
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kainsilv wrote:
I'm in a large (300+) FC on Balmung and I love it! We have about 80 people online every night during prime hours. Not all of them say much but the leaders make sure it stays clean so people aren't afraid to contribute. They have some RP linkshells, at least 10 endgame linkshells, weekly events, etc... This week is our 2nd anniversary and the leaders have planned tons of events and prizes. In the past they've even organized events in Baltimore at Medieval Times.

I will say that I'm not really close to everyone but this is probably on of the best run guilds I've ever been involved with.


What FC are you in? Just to ask out of curiosity.
#17 Aug 20 2015 at 10:20 AM Rating: Good
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