That's really all there is to it. TFs are a bit more cumbersome because of the level ranges and the time commitment involved, but once you gather the team together it's really about the same. The hassle there is that you can't SK in people below the range and people above it may or may not be okay with not getting xp, which leaves you with a small pool of folks to draw on for TFs.
The only thing I'd add to the above as far as leading pickup teams is to have your own missions ready rather than relying on someone else to have something that's appropriate for the group to do.
Otherwise you may find yourself with a bunch of people with no missions, outdated missions and/or really difficult missions set on very high difficulty settings. Sure, in that last case you could ask the person to drop the difficulty and give it a shot, but if I get invited to a team, I want the leader to have a plan. Being open to doing the missions of others on the team isn't bad, it's even laudable, but you should have a default plan in place (i.e. "we'll be doing my Nemesis mission in Founders, unless anyone has something else they'd like to get done?").
Iscariot's Guide to the Tri-Form Warshade, version 2.1
I'm sorry that math > your paranoid delusions, but them's the breaks -- Nethergoat
P.E.R.C. Rep for Liberty server
At low level its not as bad its tends to get more bothersome at higher level you cant always find that tank/healer/dps you need and they you start ruing into players that are constantly whining about something. Its still not bad you can just kick them tell them to stop but after a while it just drags on you. You just want to play and not be having to keep the team cohesive. At times you start to feel like youre having to play the part of a parent. Hay you stop aggroing before the tank, if you go afk anymore Im going to kick you. Good heals/buffs, you go pull some mobs everybody else wait here for them to come.
Its not a big deal really 80% of the time that Ive done it I know Ill take the job if I dont see anybody else stepping up to the plate. Ive seen good groups fall apart just because the leader leaves also and I dont really get why.
What surprising me the most though is how many people Ive see start groups that dont even know the game has a search function. Or youll find your way into a ma team only to have the leader say so who knows a good mish? Or has no idea how the difficulty setting works. Still some can be rather amusing to watch before they fall apart. I remember the last boss farm I went on (it was a blind invite) it was all level 54 custom mobs Id done it a few times its rather fun but doesnt really have much room for error your either going to do semi good or wipe. And here we are a group with not a player over level 20. As soon as you get on the map you know whats going to happen but still the leader and most of team is of the mindset we can do it I just did this with another group. Never did it dawn on them that the other group was carrying them they somehow got it in their heads that all those other level 40+ toon with Ios out the wazoo didnt really matter. So you just kinda fallow a bit farther behind the rest watch that first boss slaughter everbody but you and the other guy that had the good sense to not aggro anything.
No Im not complaining about farms or starting a debate Im just commenting on the fact that most of the times the better leaders are the ones that dont want to do it like the op at first. While the guys that are horrible at it are the ones that constantly want the star from the get go.
Of course, you don't ever need "tank/heals/dps" in this game. That's probably another sign of a poor leader, or at least an ignorant one. I'd say that's one of this game's great features, that it doesn't rely on that tired old MMO formula and instead gives us a game where you don't really need any of those things.
Other than that, some good points.
Iscariot's Guide to the Tri-Form Warshade, version 2.1
I'm sorry that math > your paranoid delusions, but them's the breaks -- Nethergoat
P.E.R.C. Rep for Liberty server
Blind invites are rude.
There is no such thing as a "blind tell".
As long as you say something in the tell along the lines of "Hi, want to help with a level 13 Frostfire mission in the Hollows?" or whatever you're doing, you should be fine.
City of Heroes taught me that when the world is burning, you don't just stand by and watch, you grab a fire extinguisher and do whatever you can to stop it-even if it's not much at all. Sign the petition to keep City of Heroes alive HERE.
@MissKyo, Leader of the Teamsters coalition on Protector
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I'll have to resort to blind tells. I know some think it's rude, so I try to be as polite as possible.
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I generally find a good session hiding behind a polite tell.
I like it when I get invited to a team and the leader asks if I have current missions, even if I don't.
I like it when the guy with the star says at the end of the mission "Lets start the next door after everyone takes 5 for selling, drink, bio".
I like it when the guy with the star isn't afraid to kick someone.
I like it when the guy with the star says 'follow player X', and then leaves all the pathfinding to player X.
I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.
Thomas Jefferson
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Blind invites are rude.
There is no such thing as a "blind tell".
As long as you say something in the tell along the lines of "Hi, want to help with a level 13 Frostfire mission in the Hollows?" or whatever you're doing, you should be fine.
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True.
Unless your flag is up, that is. If you're "looking for team" flag is up, then no team invite is a blind invite.
Brother of Markus
The Lord of Fire and Pain
The Legendary Living Hellfire
Fight my brute!
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There is no such thing as a "blind tell".
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tell>can u pl meh
tell>can i get inf then
tell> y u no answ. u rood.
tell>loljk srsly can u pl meh lol
tell>y u ignore him? lol pl us plz
I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.
Thomas Jefferson
Rude tells, stupid tells, barely intelligible tells.
But not blind tells.
Iscariot's Guide to the Tri-Form Warshade, version 2.1
I'm sorry that math > your paranoid delusions, but them's the breaks -- Nethergoat
P.E.R.C. Rep for Liberty server
You pretty much have it there. One tip though:
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Rarely, I'll have to resort to blind tells
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There is no such thing as a blind tell. A blind invite, sure, but not a blind tell. If you get crap for sending someone a TELL asking them politely if they'd like to join a real team, well they just have something stuck up their rectum.
EDIT: This is what I get for once in a long while not reading the whole thread before replying. I could have saved time just by quoting someone else. Crap.
Since a lot of players hate the "Defeat X# of so-and-so enemy" missions, I try to get those missions out of the way on my own. When I get to the story arc, I'll invite a team and run the story arc with them. Some stick it out to the end of the arc, sometimes someone quits for various reasons (not what they want to do, real-life commitments, etc) and I can usually find replacement fairly easily.
After I have finished my contact, I will look at what missions someone else has and help them with their missions. Kinda like rub my back, now I rub yours as a reward for helping me.
First, thanks for the tips and kind words. Nice to know I'm doing something right.
Just finished a session in Steel Canyon with a 12-ish PuG. Started out as a team running radio missions broadcasting for members. They were kind enough to invite me. After a few missions, the leader had to drop for a bit and handed me the star.
I noticed that just about everyone had about to start or were in the middle of Monty's Midnighter arc. So, we decided to run them. I sent out a broadcast for anyone else interested in running the arc, got a couple of people interested. Including a Level 50 who hadn't gotten around to the arc yet.
We had to wait a bit since one member was having technical difficulties, but it wasn't too bad of a wait. Just as we were about to start, we picked up a Scrapper by the mission door.
Had a great time, there was some concern that we might need a tank. But, the Spines/Fire Scrapper proved that wrong pretty readily. Eventually the original team leader came back, was a tank, and he was re-invited and we rolled.
If I didn't have to go to bed, I'd still be playing with that team. That was an awful lot of fun. I'm glad to see that this teaming thing works blueside, too.
This was especially gratifying since I was playing my Ill/Kin controller, who I've not played with in a good while. I'm not used to playing 'trollers and I've parked my Mind/Psy Dom out of frustration.
Here's another quick tip....
If you ever think you "need X", be it tanker, "healer" or whatever, you're wrong.
You just need to change your strategy to match the team you have. ANY team makeup can work in this game with the right strategy. ANY.
flame up, Player, flame up 
i m game if you wanna show me a Mostf strategy without a tank..
PS: now im bed, its 5:30 am, have a nice one yall.
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flame up, Player, flame up
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wut?
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i m game if you wanna show me a Mostf strategy without a tank..
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You're joking right? Enough controllers and/or defenders make it *EASY*.
Paragon City Search And Rescue
The Mentor Project
Actually, Master of Statesman's Task Force runs have been made successfully without a Tanker. Having X is less important than having eight intelligent people who can follow a simple plan.
Sticking to the familiar formula is the safe bet when you're putting together a pick up attempt, but among seasoned players who know what they're doing there are far more options available.
I remember reading not too long ago about a run that took down Ghost Widow without any Clear Mind, Clarity or Thaw on the team. They had multiple Dark Defenders and put so much debuff on her that she simply missed them. A lot.
Iscariot's Guide to the Tri-Form Warshade, version 2.1
I'm sorry that math > your paranoid delusions, but them's the breaks -- Nethergoat
P.E.R.C. Rep for Liberty server
i love leading teams. Always wanna give support to those players trying hard and give a "nice job everyone" or great job healers once in awhile. also curb any negative behavior right away. If someone is bugging everyone that they should be getting more xp or if the scrapper or a blaster thinks they can run into a arch vill without the tank and then get pissy they died those kind of things ill give a gentle reminder the gen rules of play 
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I remember reading not too long ago about a run that took down Ghost Widow without any Clear Mind, Clarity or Thaw on the team. They had multiple Dark Defenders and put so much debuff on her that she simply missed them. A lot.
[/ QUOTE ]
I ran a deathless STF (we didn't think about making it an MoSTF attempt when we started it) with my old SG with 7 controllers and a defender. It was an all rad STF and we all knew what to do. No CM. No Tank. Just loads of debuffs. We even took out LR with 2 of the towers up.
Some of us are just masochistic perfectionist and that's why forming and leading a team is so painful. Are people waiting to long or am I going to fast? Is this mission to easy/hard? Should I talk more/less? Good/bad xp? Damn we wiped it's my fault etc. Etc. That's why I loathe doing it, and I know it's in my head and the times I have led PUGs the players have been easy going and enjoyable but still I get anxiety. So since I still want to enjoy this game I don't lead.
But am always glad to the folks who do and don't overanalyze things. For me, I've rarely had problems with a bad leader because for the most part the community is really good and just want to have fun.
I'm trying to play with more PuGs these days, though the entire thing is new to me. So, this is what I do and I'd like to know if I'm doing it right or if you all have any pointers.
Usually, what I'll do is start inviting people in the same range as me and broadcasting "LFT". I'll also go through the Search and pick up the few who actually have themselves set to "Looking for Any" or whatever.
If no one's broadcasting, then I'll do a broadcast and either start or complete a team that way.
Rarely, I'll have to resort to blind tells. I know some think it's rude, so I try to be as polite as possible.
Once the team is formed, I'll go through the missions everyone has and pick one. Or I'll ask if anybody has missions that they want help in finishing. Or I'll focus on those arcs that will let the majority of the team finish simultaneously.
Once we get rolling, I'll try to offer some leadership, such as suggesting Brutes taking point (I'm teaming mostly in lowbie Redsider missions). Though, if it's an experienced enough team, we'll just roll without any cues from anyone.
Now that I've done it a few times, I wonder why I was ever so hesitant to lead a team. I watched one team fall apart because I had to go and no one wanted the star. I guess I used to be like that and it really was nothing more than being nervous at something new. But, now that I've done it, I don't think I had cause to be so nervous.
Maybe it's just the fact that I'm running lowbie missions, but there doesn't seem to be a huge leadership requirement. I imagine that higher-level missions or TFs are a different story, though.