With Final Fantasy XIV being the most popular MMO in the current gaming landscape, there are plenty of chances for socialization and player interaction. From raids and dungeons to Fates and even the Triple Triad Trial, you'll no doubt meet numerous friends and like-minded players as you embark on your journey. However, you may want to form a stable group to collaborate, explore and battle with. In that case, it's time to start your Free Company (FC).
Reasons for Starting Your Own Free Company
Free companies are Final Fantasy XIV's alternative to guilds in other MMOs. They are an organized community that allows you to gather your friends from the same data center under one organization. Through this system, you can organize events, parties, raid runs, dungeon runs, farming rushes, and even buy in-game housing to make a base of operations!
The main question is:
Why would I want to start my own FC instead of simply coordinating coop? And will it help me to earn gil and experience?
● A shared chest across accounts where FC members can share items, equipment, and gil.
● Extra experience points overall, with further bonuses for group activities and dungeon runs.
● A custom emblem made specifically for the FC that you can equip on your gear!
● Your estate where you can build and expand to your heart's content!
● Easier ways to collaborate and communicate with your guild members
● Earn plenty of gil as a group and rise the world's ever-changing economy
Luckily, you can still coordinate over Discord if these benefits don't appeal to you! If they do, however, we'll get into the process of starting.
How to Start a Free Company in FFXIV
To start your own FC, you'll have to be at least level 25 with any class of your choice. In addition, you must be past the story quest that allows you to choose a Grand Company. It doesn't matter what Grand Company you select; the FC can be made up of any combination of members from them. In addition, it's best to have a fair amount of gil set aside (presumedly split amongst the founding members of your FC.) For great prices on FFXIV gil, our online store has you covered.
The last and perhaps most strenuous task is to submit an application for your FC. It would be best if you had the company name, a tagline, and three signatures from interested members. These applications can be retrieved from the Grand Company Leader NPC in your Grand Company's home area. This process can take a while, a few days at most, so sit tight, chill with some friends, and listen to one of the always-present bard bands in Limsa Lominsa while you wait. In the meantime, you can get outside tools ready, such as making an FC discord to send text, chat, and important images outside the game's systems.
Hopefully, with enough time and luck, the application can be approved. Congratulations! You now have your own FC established!
How to Build Your Free Company
The first step in starting your FC is to gather any members you can think of to start the initial process. Your group will eventually grow in size, so this step isn't too vital. Make sure that anybody you want for important initial discussions is there, including current friends who are already playing with you, online friends, and people interested in the game you want to guide for the first time. Any player can join an FC regardless of level, Grand Company, or class.
Next, establish your FC crest. Upon reaching rank 2, an FC can create its own unique company crest. Although an aesthetic decision may come off as something auxiliary or unneeded, this has more sway over your emotions than you might think. This crest not only represents the company you have formed but will also represent your friends, other free companies, and any newcomers. You want it to be awesome, so have a big discussion about what that crest will be and if the chosen idea has longevity. Often inside jokes or nostalgic moments can give great inspiration for your crest.
Suppose you haven't already established a Discord server. Although one of the perks of running an FC is the ability to accomplish most of the social heavy lifting in-game, Discord presents its benefits on top of that. You can share detailed maps and guides for raids, send text windows and compare character stats in an immediate format. Pins can be used to store more important information, and having multiple text chat categories helps with organization.
Now the real fun begins! After establishing the basics, your FC can start delving into more difficult high-level content and other endgame activities. Not only will this net your group extra experience points but specialized FC Experience Points. These bonus points are awarded for participating in the previously mentioned raids and dungeons, along with crafting, treasure hunts, and Grand Company Leves.
There's also a plethora of guild-related activities that are a joy to host! For instance, you can throw a fashion contest to show off your gathered gear or have a fun casino game night to relax and enjoy time with your group. These fun events always raise morale and companionship amongst your comrades and are a great way to get new members up to speed.
How to Get New Free Company Members
Getting new members, luckily, is easier than starting the guild itself. One of the easiest ways is to advertise within the text chat system, make a short text ad for your FC and yell it around populated areas and zones. This is also a great way to recruit starting players, as they will most likely gravitate towards the FC that sounds most interesting to them.
You can also take your group out for tours around the world. This allows you to show your group and their accomplishments in a way that will attract interest and conversation from other players. If you have a few Bards at the party, they can even supply music for the festivities! For a truly showy entrance, throwing a small parade can make an impression (although it's best to save this idea for larger companies!) This can be compounded during seasonal events, where plenty of players will be in public spaces.
Lastly, throwing a party at your base and putting public invites out is a great way to socialize online and tell people about your guild and what you represent. Holiday parties are a great way to get visitors as they crawl from guild to guild! If you have a good enough group and enough confidence to spare, people will flock to your guild, and you'll soon have a budding online community to call your own.
Free Company Housing & How to Earn Gil
One of the major goals of many free companies is the eventual purchasing of a base of operations. This will be your central hub for your entire group. There are many additions you can make to your home. Some of these include crafting areas and schematic boards, along with plenty of decoration options. Unfortunately, housing is extremely expensive. A small house will run you about four million gil, with a medium costing around 17 million to the largest possible base being a whopping 40 million gil. Earning gil as a group is much easier than doing it alone.
● Replaying dungeons will give you plenty of gil from boss kills.
● High-level fates are a quick way to earn plenty of gil from a slew of enemies. Send groups to multiple different fates across the world to efficiently speed up the process.
● Finishing a raid will ALWAYS get you plenty of gil, along with strong, rare weapon drops.
● If you want to accelerate the process, you can always head to our store for the most affordable purchasable gil bundles on the internet.
And there you have it! Now you have the knowledge to successfully start, run and maintain your guild and its momentum. It may seem intimidating, and it can be at times! There are a lot of unpredictable factors when it comes to a massive online community like the one in Final Fantasy XIV. Luckily, that massive community is also one of the friendliest around. Whether it's tense battles against raid bosses or relaxing times playing Triple Triad and exploring the world, you can be sure that every bit of effort you put into this will be worth it to you and your friends.
The joy of being part of an FC is being able to reach out to a close-knit collection of like-minded adventurers to explore the world of Eorzea in a collaborative, creative gameplay environment. It is a great way to experience Final Fantasy XIV to its fullest and may even make you grow closer to new and old friends.
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