Pros and Cons: Large and Small Free Companies in FFXIVFollow

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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)

:)

Sent a PM Hyrist