Fat Chocobos: Uncle Sam wants YOU(R FEEDBACK)

Actually I want your feedback. I want to hear opinions from as many people as we can on how you all feel about the Fat Chocobos linkshell and free company so that we can make our group even cooler than it is already!

• What do you like about the FC and LS? What are we doing right?
  
  
• What can we improve on? If there's anything that we're making a hash of we wanna fix it immediately!
  
  
• Is there anything in particular that you wanna see within our group? Want to see more groups raiding Coil? Want to have random eventy type things that aren't related to the game content, like a screenshot party or something? Be creative, the more ideas we get, the more fun we can all have!
  
  
• Is there anything you think the leaders could be doing better? Be honest! If you're too afraid to post it here you can always PM myself or one of the other leaders, and I promise you won't be bitten (by me).

If you have anything to say, then let it all out, it'll benefit us all! Any time you have a sparkling idea, come straight to this thread and record it. :)

* I am not Uncle Sam

I'll be brave and make the first post!

I'll start off by saying that I really like the FC/LS! Rav and I were warmly welcomed into it - and everyone has always been very very friendly.

One of the problems we've found, recently, with the FC is trying to get something together. Whether it is coil, a primal, or even a dungeon run - we can rarely get a full FC run. We'll often get one or two people for the high level stuff, but its very rare if we can fill out a full party. And full FC party runs are so fun!! As well as more friendly/reliable/constructive than DF or PF.
In terms of how to 'fix' this, I'm not sure. Rav and I aren't always up for stuff, we might not feel like it, or be doing something else - so I obviously wouldn't expect other people to drop what they're doing either. Maybe it is a case of trying to recruit more high level players, or actively helping the lower people to get to 50. I really like the fact that everyone is friendly, and I've got to know a lot of you well - and that would be harder with a lot more people. But maybe it would help to create a bigger pool of people that would make it more likely to do stuffs.

I'll talk about Coil in particular, because I think that might become a bit of a danger to the FC - especially with 2.2 coming with more Turns, and people looking elsewhere for parties/statics. I think a lot of us who can Coil, are finding a way to do it - with a couple of unofficial static-ish parties formed up. But I don't think either of those parties are full (link to point above!), or perhaps ideal. I think this could do with some input from a leader. Obviously respecting what has already formed - but perhaps providing a way of organising it better, and filling the parties out. Either via a shared spreadsheet, or a thread on here, or a calendar on FB (is that possible?) - I don't know. Again, because most of us are fairly casual, it would have to be somewhat flexible - but perhaps a bit of organisation would help us beat the existing turns, and be in place for the new ones!

Finally yes, some planned FC events would be quite cool. We quite enjoyed the random screenshot evening...even if BoB was in his underwear with a gimp mask the whole time! There are probably quite a few things we could do, depending on how many people we've got. In terms of 'useful' stuff, treasure hunts are fun and profitable! Um... I said quite a few things, but I can't think of anything now! We could get 8 people together, and have a race through some guildhests, or a dungeon - see which group wins :p In terms of harder stuff, we could do swimsuit primal runs, or non-traditional runs (8 DD Castrum? :p). Maybe again, we should set some threads up on here/FB for expanding ideas, setting stuff up. Obviously not everyone will use those, so messages on the FC when you log in to set time/date would be good :)

I've thought of something else. We're obviously still trying to save up for the FC house, but our initial momentum has seemed to slow down considerably.... Again, maybe some help from the leaders might encourage some profitable endeavours! Like treasure hunts, gathering/crafting days - where the crafters look for something profitable, and the gatherers/fighters farm the ingredients for them - with all proceeds going to the chest.

I've gone on a lot more than I thought I would - hope it all makes sense! And not too negative - because the FC is awesome, and definitely makes the game so much better! :D

As the guy who will no longer be playing (No face, I really doubt I'll be coming back. :p) it seems it my be best to pre-plan some of the larger runs, such as Coil, to try to get some full FC run's in from time to time. FC runs were way funner then dealing with random people, more often then not I started clocking out and not paying attention, as you may have recalled with that one douche bag who we ran WP with. ;P

Of course there will probably be instances like wtih me where my schedule just doesn't line up with anyones for doing stuff, though I guess in my case it's not important anymore! :monster:

I'm still relatively new to the FC/LS but I have to say Tarantio articulated something I've also kind of been feeling very very nicely! I love the LS as it's awesome and because people are nice and not too intense about playing stuff (no one is dps parsing watching over anyone, or being elitist about stuff) but I do wish there were more people on (at least during NA times) to do stuff with. Especially higher level content, I don't particularly like having to PUG around for runs at primals and the like but it's almost impossible to find people to go with during the week. I don't mind going with people that want to learn fights either at all, it's still better than joining a random group and wondering if there'll be someone bitching about mistakes or calling me out on bad DPS or whatever, makes me dread joining some PF stuff sometimes but it's hard to get the content otherwise.

I know there's like 100 people in the LS technically but it seems like at best there's like 10-15 active (chatting) people even during weekends so I do feel we need to try to get a few more cool people in! It's a bit problematic to do so at times, though, because, while I understand the rationale between making people get accounts here, it is really a hard sell at times. I know it took me a while to get over it and just make an account before Bobby could invite me in. It's also tough since I'm not sure exactly what the rules are in trying to invite people, like let's say I met someone really cool in a PF group that seemed to be looking for a FC, not sure whether I could tell them to try to join us or if I should ask the FC leaders first. But it'd be nice to have more people to have more full FC runs of things because they are definitely so much fun (even when we wipe again and again and again and again xD). I know part of it is that our userbase is split between NA times and Europe (and New Zealand :D) times, but that just means we need more people for each!

I do love the idea about FC activities, full DPS runs of stuff sounds like a lot of fun. I also saw a warrior+all scholar run of things like Titan which seems super cool to try :p. I know some of my favorite dungeon runs have been ones where a tank or healer dropped and we went on anyway, makes them so much more interesting when you have to be clever! It does seem like there aren't too many things organized by the leadership so you end up having to organize stuff on your own if you want to make it happen, which is relatively fine, but then it sucks when you have to feel like you're leaving people out because you already had plans :(.

I don't know if that came across as too negative! I don't mean it to be, I still really like the LS/FC! The people are the best part. I love weekends or random nights when Europe/NA intersect and we have a bunch of people on and can have wacky chats/conversation/attempts at stuff which is why I'd love to see more of it! I think the environment and attitudes of the people that we let in to the LS are the best part! So it's true that it's not like you can grab rando-s but I feel like we need to be a bit more proactive in getting active members to make it feel more vibrant during any hour so that when someone needs something there'll always be people around who feel like helping!

tl;dr: I love the LS and the people in it but more people to do content with during active times and more FC activities during planned times would be teh awesome.

A few things have been touched upon in here that I'd like to say stuff about!

Inviting people - Anyone with an EoFF account is able to join our Linkshell and Free Company. This opens us to a mix of all kinds of people, which can lead to some conflicting interests on occasion, but people are naturally welcome to join other FC's if they want something that is dedicated to a more specific goal that suits their needs. Generally we are a social FC with a goal towards helping each other and just being friendly, chatty people. If you come across someone that you feel is a perfect fit for us, though, I welcome you to invite them to create an account at EoFF. Once that is done they only need to ask to join and they're in.

Removing people - We haven't thrown anyone out of the LS yet, but there is a limit of 128 people per Linkshell so if it comes down to it, we may start to remove people who have been absent for a very long period of time. This is a rather unfortunate thing that is forced upon us by the limit of 128 characters. We also may force people to drop rarely used alts from the LS. Right now we still have a little room to move, though, so I don't want people to volunteer dropping from the LS until we hit around 125 users.

Organising Things To Do - I hope people aren't relying on the leadership to do this, as the leadership are mostly here to welcome people and be a positive influence on the atmosphere rather than being dedicated to organising runs (although that is naturally a huge plus). I encourage anyone and everyone to organise events, runs, whatever. The best ways to do this are through the forums and on Facebook (best to cross-post any events you have planned for the best results as some people only bother to check one or the other).

"It's quiet during American timezones." - This is something I've heard often from a lot of people, and it leaves me wondering if a lot of people just all happen to log in on different days or if they're all just quiet and don't talk to each other. Obviously being in the EU means I'm not online during US peak hours, but I can say there is definitely a decent number of Americans and Canadians in our LS and I would love for them to all hop on at once to see if they can start getting chatty amongst each other, encouraging each other to log in at certain times, stuff like that. I might start making a list of known North Americans so you guys can start talking to each other on the forums/Facebook and plan a certain day to all be online at once or something.

Coil - The general decision from leadership is that we don't want to get our hands involved in this because it would mean that the leadership are the ones forcing people to play with certain others or forcing people not to play with certain others, and in general it's just messy. In the end, we felt the best decision was to let you guys do what you want. If you want to sort out a static, that's okay. If you want to party with different people each week, maybe some from other FC/LS's, so be it. It's down to the individuals how they handle Coil and we don't want to interfere as that will leave people feeling disenchanted and perhaps even unwanted within the leadership (and therefore, generally, the LS/FC). We never want this to happen, so it's best for us to just let you guys make your own plans amongst each other. As the overall leader of the group, I actually avoid Coil for this very reason - I don't want anyone to feel like they're more or less important than someone else. I'll probably be first running Coil after 2.2 when the T1-5 lockouts expire!

What do you like about the FC and LS? What are we doing right?

I like the openness of the community, and the general attitude of the group to say "Just have fun." We also have a great house, and a lot of teamwork for the big house goals. Everyone is also very helpful and willing to assist in dungeons and advice for characters. Everyone I've chatted with is friendly, funny, and we all bring something to the game. The only other people I play with are from Penny Arcade, and the benefit with them is that there are just more active players.

What can we improve on? If there's anything that we're making a hash of we wanna fix it immediately!

The in-game chat is simply inefficient means to communicate in the game. I really wish there was more of a push and support for voice channels like Vent or Mumble. I have said this before, and I've received the feedback, but in every functioning MMO group, there is a dedicated voice service because it just makes playing the game easier, particularly during Raids, dungeons, and just having conversation in general. I am uncertain why there is the pushback from a lot of people against voice communication, but it really hampers the communication among the group, and makes it harder to play the game and The best times I've had with the Fat Chocobos is when we used a voice communication and I heard BoB scream-singing Scar from the Lion King; however, these instances are exceptionally rare. This is also particularly useful for console players.



Is there anything in particular that you wanna see within our group? Want to see more groups raiding Coil? Want to have random eventy type things that aren't related to the game content, like a screenshot party or something? Be creative, the more ideas we get, the more fun we can all have!

I'm not too concerned. Anytime I've needed help, there has been a great amount of help granted. I do wish we had a more groups doing dungeons. A LOT of focus seems to be toward crafting and gardening and the house at the moment; though I suspect this is because the majority of people have finished most of the content.

Is there anything you think the leaders could be doing better? Be honest! If you're too afraid to post it here you can always PM myself or one of the other leaders, and I promise you won't be bitten (by me).

I don't know if this is a leadership issue, or a community issue. I think that being part of EoFF isn't the option to get into the FC, and we don't have our own community place that's separate from this community. To me, FFXIV Fat Chocobos isn't EoFF, it's FFXIV players. I know we use Facebook, but that's not really the best option because my phone blows up a ton if I turn on notifications, so I just disable them. I would suggest brainstorming and determining what directions leaders want the FC/LS to go, and if they feel it is heading in that direction.

Voice chat seems to be a recurring want for the members of the FC, so it's on the top of the list right now. Couple of kinks to iron out and we should have a Mumble server going. I'll look into TS as well, if there's the demand for it. Even though Mumble is way nicer. :p

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Originally Posted by Dignified Pauper

Is there anything you think the leaders could be doing better? Be honest! If you're too afraid to post it here you can always PM myself or one of the other leaders, and I promise you won't be bitten (by me).

I don't know if this is a leadership issue, or a community issue. I think that being part of EoFF isn't the option to get into the FC, and we don't have our own community place that's separate from this community. To me, FFXIV Fat Chocobos isn't EoFF, it's FFXIV players. I know we use Facebook, but that's not really the best option because my phone blows up a ton if I turn on notifications, so I just disable them. I would suggest brainstorming and determining what directions leaders want the FC/LS to go, and if they feel it is heading in that direction.

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I want to stress that Fat Chocobos, while not "Eyes on Final Fantasy" in name, is most definitely an EoFF thing. And this is a genuinely good thing. I say that because we get consistent growth through that association. The amount of newbies that join our gang via EoFF is considerable, and even oldbies that never visit EoFF anymore. If we were not based here, I can think of a dozen or so members off the top of my head that would never have joined us. Yourself included!

The link we have with this community is what sustains the Fat Chocobos. The members we have met in the game in the past year, while great, are massively less likely to stick around. Members who join us while mentioning EoFF as the reason for them joining us have a tendency to stick with us a hell of a lot longer, and also chat with us a lot more.

As for Facebook, I think that will always be the place to go for our FC/LS information and announcements because of the fact that it gives notifications to phones. If we weren't based out of Facebook or EoFF's forums, I would probably forget all about whatever other place we'd end up.

Working on the voice chat thing with Mike! It's not nearly as unpopular as it was a long time ago (I know because Danielle is on it a few times each week), although in-game chat will probably always be #1. Our most regular FFXIV'ers don't like voice as the "standard" way of communicating, but a lot of us do really love talking a few times per week when doing dungeons or something.

I rep'd both your posts, but I have to say that I agree with your points BoB.

Also, a voice service will be nice, because I just can't get into playing an MMO without that aspect. It just makes everything easier.

We had a voice thing for a long time, as you probably know as you were often in it. It went down during the server move but we're working on getting something set up again.

However, it should be noted that - again, as you probably know as you were often in it - it is something that is generally only used by the masses when we arrange it to be used, rather than having people sitting around idle in it. I think you were the only person who did the latter.

i seen the ff xiv chocobo.

i now wish i had a good enough computer to see one. the fat chcobo is funny. and its music is too

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Originally Posted by Gruntace101

i seen the ff xiv chocobo.

i now wish i had a good enough computer to see one. the fat chocobo is funny. and its music is too

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If you have a ps3 then you could always join us that way, it's cross platform. It broke my heart but I recently saw it being sold for £2 in a random game shop.

It's a great game, it doesn't deserve to be that cheap.

Most are already aware of this, but our TS is back up and running now. Details can be reached on the Facebook page or the TS thread, both of which are linked in the FC thread stickied in this forum.