They can also help organize player groups for specific activities like dungeons and hunts, or just simply serve as social networks.
Why Use Linkshells vs. Fellowships or Free Companies?
Free Companies are limited to your world. Linkshells provide you with live chat functionality with all the other members of the group, even ones playing on other worlds. Fellowships do not offer live chat in the same way. So it’s more like a bare-bones “guild” feature you can use to create small communities that operate separately to Free Companies or Fellowships. Linkshells based in the same world can have up to 128 members – significantly less than the 512 members that Free Companies can support. Cross-world Linkshells can support 64 total members, which is half the max size of same world Linkshells, presumably because of the technical requirements of communicating across different servers. But there’s still quite a lot of like-minded players you can cram into one chat channel – and with the ability to invite players from other worlds into parties, it’s a useful feature to have. Much like Free Companies, Linkshells have hierarchical ranks within their membership. You’ll have a leader, officers, and the rank-and-file members, each with their own permissions. You can only type in one Linkshell at a time. But it’s easy to swap between them with simple text commands. You can be in a total of 8 Linkshells at once, but only one of those can be cross-world. This allowance is alongside your one Free Company and ten Fellowships limit – so you really have a ton of options when it comes to FFXIV’s social features. One caveat regarding Linkshells (and cross-world play in general) is that you can only invite from worlds that share the same Data Center as you. If this sounds confusing, just think of Data Centers as the big regional servers that contain smaller subsections within. Or like an orange – the Data Center is the peel, the worlds are the fruit.
How Do I Create My Own Linkshell?
This feature is locked behind a basic interaction, like most features in Final Fantasy XIV tend to be, And the game doesn’t do a very good job of explaining it. The Linkshell item can be picked up from Ul’dah, Gridania, or Limsa Lominsa from Ninisha, Theanne, or L’zuhja respectively. Once you’ve followed their instructions you’ll be handed a Linkshell, and can get to work creating your own! It’s a simple process that doesn’t require much explanation. In fact, we’ve basically covered all there is to know about Linkshells here already. But you’ll get to create your own Linkshell crest with colors and patterns. After that, all you need to do is start inviting people. This can be done via your friends list, or by right-clicking on their character in the world! And just as a note – you don’t need to speak to one of these NPCs to join an existing Linkshell. You can be invited to one at any time.
