What is a Free Company?

Free companies are adventurer-run organizations which allow their members to pool resources, be it items or gil, to accomplish feats that would be difficult or impossible for a single individual.

To form a free company, a player must first submit a free company petition after acquiring signatures from three other players. The player who submits the petition will become master of the free company, and can invite additional players to join.

Upon forming a free company, members will be granted access to a company chest, which can be used to store items and gear to be shared with all members. Furthermore, by increasing your free company's rank, you can create a company crest, as well as use a number of company actions to the benefit of your members.

Free companies will also be allowed to purchase estates upon which to establish headquarters. They can also participate in a number of events such as large-scale player-versus-player combat.

( via the official Lodestone description: [Link] )

This is a guild for fans of both Final Fantasy XIV & giantbomb.com located on the Ultros server of Final Fantasy XIV's Primal data center.

As of now, there's no real prerequisites to join other than owning the game (and not acting like a jackass of course). Getting through content with us will be more laid back, so don't worry about taking things too seriously for right now. This is intended to be a laid-back communal guild focused more on casual play and aiding people looking to take their time whilst cruising through the game.

I repeat, If your enjoyment in a guild is very much contingent on min-maxing highly regimented endgame runs, then you're probably going to want to look for another Free Company (at least for right now). We're not that kind of guild.

The Company does have a hard limit of 512 members (though we rarely ever use our linkshell anymore, but it's there for people who want one if they're in another company or whatnot) If you're ready to be invited just, sign up at Guildwork.com, link your character up (directions on how to are there as well), and then head over to the recruitment page (Note: you can also look around for any member with a «GBomb» tag by their name in the game and they will invite you). As of 2/20/2014, you can now directly submit an application to join in-game by finding any member of the Company, right clicking them to view the Company Profile then selecting "Submit Application". Another method that doesn't involve having to wait for an online member to invite you is detailed in this thread. Right now, invites are open to all concerning the Free Company, but if we start nearing the member cap we will begin prioritizing reserved spots for Giant Bomb members exclusively. Until then, everybody is welcome. Invite your mom, invite your dog, and we'll welcome them all with open arms.

Currently, we're allied with: The Maelstrom Grand Company

The Maelstrom is one of the three Grand Companies of Eorzea. The Maelstrom's base of operations is located in the Maelstrom Command in Limsa Lominsa.

At the heart of the Thalassocratic Navy lies the Lominsan Armada, composed of nine independent squadrons, the First through the Ninth. The Maelstrom is an extension of the First Squadron, expanding its role as armada flagship and granting it power to administer not only the remaining eight squadrons, but the various merchant fleets that navigate the seas off Vylbrand.

With the reestablishment of the Maelstrom, the admiral has also begun the move to invoke ancient maritime law, by which she would promote herself to Chief Admiral, effectively expanding her authority to cover not only state and military dealings, but grant her the power to directly command all ships in Lominsan waters, and freely punish any who disobey. Needless to say, the city-state's pirates are not about to take this encroachment on their freedom without a fight.

Till Sea Swallows All.

Giant Bomb Guildwork Page

http://giantbomb.guildwork.com/

Giant Bomb Free Company Lodestone Page

Here you can access the member list, the company profile, our company warchest, our Lodestone forums, and our relatively recent member activity (the Lodestone has been slow to update with the hectic launch, so somtimes my updates here beat theirs).

http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/freecompany/9234208823458136603/

• Company Profile: [Click Here]
• Member List: [Click Here]
• Company Chest: [Click Here]
• Recent Activity: [Click Here]
• Lodestone Forums for Giant Bomb Free Company: [Click Here]

Giant Company News

All future news will be posted to our Guildwork page and in-game Company Board.

Server World(s)

Ultros (Primary)

New characters "fresh start" server. This is were I'm focusing the brunt of my time since most people just want to start on a brand new server.

Images

Great post. My name will probably change a little in the next beta phase but I'll probably stay as a Conjurer, and probably Lancer on the side.

going to try to get into the beta, I've heard good things! will return with info when I do

Add me to the list. I have a legacy character, but I don't remember a goddamn thing about my ign or my job lol. I didn't get too far anyway so I'll probably be starting fresh as well.

World transfer for legacy/origanal 1.0 Characters is now up at https://secure.square-enix.com/account/app/svc/Login?cont=ffxiv_migrate&ret=https%3A%2F%2Ffrontier.ffxiv.com%2FworldTransfer%2Fna%2Findex.html

When you log on it it shows what your original server was if you don't remember and its pretty easy to switch if you need. If Excalibur ends up being the server we end on ill switch it but ill wait an see just to make sure we end up heading there, that's if people do,Excalibur and Balmung seem to be the heavy servers population wise. Not sure what job ill end up playing since i have most jobs at 50 aside from lancer and gladiator and the forth coming summoner class. So be happy to help around with getting people started when this is all kicks off.

@babychoochoo: Added. I'm at work right now, but I'll probably be playing for the rest of the day after 1PM CST.

So I have tried to find a good resource that outlines what has changed and what is "better" about 2.0. It doesn't seem like they have changed a whole lot ... but perhaps I'm missing it. Anyone have good links for this summary?

@randomstring: That's kind of a tough one to really answer. Are you looking for technical changes? aesthetic? mechanical? There's been a lot across the board but not one aggregated list from what I've seen. The best you'll be able to find is features that are being added to 2.0. Whether or not these were in 1.0 is kind of specious to state conclusively, and even moreso if you're after what was taken away or updated altogether. For example, the server architecture is one of the things that made 1.0 a pain, creating interface lag, weird instancing and on-screen character loads/limits. The client is entirely brand new this time so that's an issue that's not just changed, but new entirely.

"Better" however is a whole other can of worms.

If you do find one though, I'll be happy to add it to the OP.

still waiting on a confirmation email to actually get into the beta. the likelihood of that happening lowers with each passing hour as more and more of my friends begin to play without me. my dreams of becoming a virtual elf fisherman are slowly being crushed.

Thanks for the heads up. I tried applying for Excalibur, but it wasn't hard to see it being pack from a mile away. I'm gonna let those servers chill for a bit before I make a switch. We have until the 15th of July.

Bro-in-law. Go get him. Go get him now.

It appears my Legacy character, which was only lvl8 as it is, ended up on Gungnir, just waiting to know what server to send him to if necessary.

Right now for the beta, I'ma just mess around playing a Miqo'te, because catgirl.

@snakelinksonic: I'll keep looking. My big problem with 1.0 was I think mostly mechanical and I am not sure I've found a blog / article from the devs that says, "hey this is why 2.0 is going to kickass". It seems like all of the blogs I've seem from the devs are a big list of mostly cosmetic changes especially when it comes to the combat system. When really the 1.0 release was pretty bad and needed a lot of big changes to make it great compared to the already saturated market out there.

I just logged in to the Beta and I'm already impressed. Granted, I didn't do anything but look at my inventory but it looks great and the frame rate holds up. My guy (Oster Senra) is still in Gungnir so I'll wait and see where you duders are going to end up before transferring. What's awesome is that all of the stuff that I had in my inventory from 1.0 is still there, so I had a good chuckle at that.

I am going to wait til a server is chosen before I pick a character but I love WAR and crafting and I might dip into SCH when it comes out.

@pontiuspyrite: We'll probably pick one in phase 4 next month when there are no more character wipes. I'm only testing out the Free Company and Linkshells today. No reason in investing in anything yet. I've had a couple of people show up for quests though.

Servers go back down late tonight anyway.

Some shots I got right before passing out last night. The rest from this phase are here.

Gallery

@snakelinksonic: Love dat Roegadyn. Really leaning towards playing one myself. I'm planning on convincing my friends to play on the GB server. We're not a big enough crew to really have a proper free company but we'll see. Worst case scenario I can join a GB Linkshell that way.

@mpgeist: I'm still really torn on how to divide my time between my Legacy character and this fresh Roge-female I made. I'm kind of partial to her now, but I'm not giving up my old character either. Eventually, I'm sure they'll all end up on the same server (provided they let us switch like they said). I kind of hope more people join the GB crew, but it would mean less time spent playing my old 1.0 character as well.

I'm definitely in for 2.0. I really enjoyed my time with it so I'll put my Legacy member to good use; that and I want to see the special chocobo mount we get when the game is released. I'll see what server you guys go to before I commit to staying on Gungnir or going some where else.

Character name is Oster Senra and I have like 4 jobs at 50. Too lazy to type them out (very tired) but I have screenshots of them on a thread here somewhere.

I'll defintely hook up with you guys, i have a legacy character but im at work so cant check where he is or what his name is, i hang out with another couple of users so ill try to convince them to come over too.

@kagato: @insane_shadowblade85: So you guys both want to use your Legacies?

I had to read the entire thing about servers because I ignored all the emails I got from Square Enix about the game. Yeah, I can't see myself starting over in that game. I won't push for everyone to be on a Legacy server so if I have to, I'll wait for the 6 months to transfer.

Just preordered the PS3 version yesterday. Going to play a white Mage I think. My name will be bunnymud

@bunnymud: there's a firstname + surname system in place so keep that in mind

Some FFXIV Beta Phase 3 Screenshot Videos if you guys are interested. I know a lot of people are still not in the beta.

Definitely getting this at launch, though I don't know if I'll end up joining the same server. Living in the UK I'd probably spend most of my time playing solo due to the different time zone most people on the server would be on at.

Will pick this up at launch....and Killer is dead. I'm going with a Puglist/Black Mage(or Thamaturge as I'm told). Haven't got around to preordering the PS3 version yet but will do so shortly.

I've been digging the beta so I'd be down to play this. I'm probably going to go with Arcanist/Summoner or Archer/Bard. My current character name is Ritzy Selwyn and I'll probably keep that in phase 4.

I have been playing the beta and really enjoying it, can you add me please and then when the game launches I am going to start afresh on the server. Username is MrSkids.

@snakelinksonic: Hey, I dunno if it's useful to you guys but you may want to add this status site to the links.

@petiew Apparently it's a EU server. There's also the Duty Finder thing that works cross server.


Some twitch friends and I were going to play on Cactuar but if GB rolls Moogle I think I'll ask the others to go there too.
I wanted to have a cool Pugilist guy but after playing these past few weekends maybe I should make a tank or healing class. They seemed to be lacking on Malboro anyway. I'll wait to see how it pans out when they implement duty finder, maybe it will be a non issue with that feature.

@enns: It is? Great then, thanks for the info. Only just got into the beta this past weekend without any prior XIV experience so still not sure how everything works yet.

@petiew: @enns: @donchipotle: @solh0und: @bunnymud: @insane_shadowblade85:

I'll go ahead and add you guys to the OP. Even if some of you end up on different servers I'll go ahead and add you with your respective world.

Thanks for the status site @enns.

I'll pop all my details in as soon as I actually manage to get a character past the opening. I kept loosing connection. :(

I've been looking forward to this for a long time, hopefully they manage to fix whatever it is that was plaguing me -- I wasn't having a problem with any other games that weekend.

I drove by your place and started streaming stuff. Sorry =(

I just played this past weekend. A bit overwhelming at first, sooo many menus. Haha I'll give it another try this weekend. Does anyone know how much it's gonna cost monthly?

Added to the OP.

Can anyone help me clarify this?

I own 1.0 Collectors Edition. Apparently that lets me get RR for free with some digital junk. My question is, do I get early access?

I don't think I payed long enough to have a Legacy account. I think I'm suppose to buy the game again to get early access. If that's the case won't that conflict with my service code on my account? Maybe I'm over thinking this..

I don't belie 1.0 CE early access, however you will be able to play Phase 4 which will allow character progress to be saved into the official release, 1.0 CE also gets the in game items they offered for the new 2.0 CE. Also Character redesign will only be available at launch of the game if you were to change race/looks etc i believe too. The early access code is something separate and something someone like amazon will send out beforehand and people have lead me to believe the code for the in game items is also the code used to get early access

Some info on 1.0 CE here Altho some people are just doing a pre order to get the early access code and just canceling after so there's that if your really desperate for it, they did mention about doing longer beta sessions that are longer than just a weekend tho so hopefully you should be able to get some good time on your character before the early access with phase 4 data saving over.

@enns: I have v1.0 Collector's Edition, and I didn't pay long enough for Legacy either, but I kept getting the newsletter emails. All they really said was that Legacy/v1.0 players would be able to get the new client free, automatic invite to Beta 4 if they hadn't already gotten in in previous phases, and if they had v1.0 Collector's Edition would get ARR Collector's Edition ingame stuff. Don't quote me, but I think the Beta4/early access still requires having signed up for beta access beforehand anyways. I don't think they were terribly clear on that.

@nadesico33: @m_shini: Thanks guys.


So as far as I can tell, new players buying the game and qualified Legacy accounts can get early access. I don't mind buying a digital copy of the CE but I can't apply that to my already existing CE service. So that means players that bought 1.0 but didn't stick around for Legacy status get shafted as payback. Just kidding, I guess the only way to do it is to either buy and cancel like M Shini said or buy the PS3 version. I wonder if the "Digital Upgrade" option that is suppose to come out will work? Either way I won't buy and cancel a preorder to take some code, seems pretty gross.

Well, if Phase4 characters can transfer over to release, I don't really mind missing a week of early access.

I would kill a man, or woman I'm not discriminatory, to join a giantbomb linkshell. Tell me the man and tell me the linkshell name!

It sounds like player housing will let free companies pretty much have a guild house with guild storage in it. You can change rules about who can enter and set separate rules about who can use the storage. From what I understand you need to buy land, then build structure on it. The size of the house you can build is limited by the land you buy so it's probably best to buy a big plot first. You can sell land and houses though, if it's at cost or to other players I don't know. Maybe the chance of raising chocobos will be there too? I dunno, either way this stuff won't be out on launch but sometime "soon" after.

I just thought the idea of a GB Chateau in Final Fantasy was pretty dumb in a good way. Since it's an actual zone people can enter, maybe you could just buy out a neighborhood. They'd probably have to instance zones after it gets full though.

It's probably for the best it's not out on launch so the company can horde gil then throw the best block party ever had in a fantasy game.

I think I've been thinking too much about this game lately..

Definitely test out the new server structure & data centers they're using for USA/Europe. Last time UK was limited to Ragnarok and I used my main on there to get away from the crowd. One of my other friends is doing the same thing this time except she lives in the U.K. and will be moving to an American server. Neither of us has had any trouble with lag/ping yet. You shouldn't have too much trouble finding people to play with on a U.S. server if you really want to. If our Free Company gets large enough, you won't have to worry about finding folks to play with among us either, time-zone lag or not.

Applying some anti-aliasing to A Realm Reborn (via NeoGAF): [Link]

Does anyone know if I can still redeem the FFXIII code for the in game item?

Can I take screenshots in the PS3 version?

@solh0und: No idea, I'd actually like to know this too. I think I took screen shots for FFXI on my PS2 though.. so maybe?

@servbot91: I'm not sure but unused codes normally always work on your SE account. Might as well give it a shot dude, I know that any digital stuff that was given in 1.0 is provided again in 2.0 through moogle mail or something like that.

Also!
Dunno how accurate this stuff is but I found this video informative. It's a race and stats rundown for the game.

Anyone know where to go after getting a chocobo?