TOP TEN THINGS TO NOT DO ON A iTRIAL

10: Jumping into the first mob before the League Leader says…GO.
This happens a lot in the trials as everyone assumes that jumping in first to every mob will yield better iXP and better chance for higher tier drop tables. Mostly just leads to frustration for the League Leader and anyone that happens to be on TS or Vent with that person


9: Not finishing off one mob spawn before jumping into another.
This happens about as often, all League members are running around the map together trying to defeat a mob and Scrappy McHopsalot has hit one aoe attack and then hopped off to the next mob. Look, we all like the new shiny, we all want to get something done, but please, wait for all the baddies of one mob to be tp’d to the villain hospital before heading off. It’s just rude not to.


8: Not having a League Chat Tab open
Look, we are trying to say something about what the plan for the trial is, where each team should go, who should get the Pacifier Grenades, where the heck are all the Acids for the spawn doors, and who is going to be pulling Nightstar and or Siege. If your chat window isn’t ready, how are you to know?


7: Having a temp power and not using it, or where to find it
The best suggestion is to have two or three free spots in your power tray so that if you get a temp power during a lambda it shows up easily. If you do not have the room, please, open up the power list tab, scroll down and look in the far right column of powers, normally under Temp Powers. Look out for Molecular Acids or Pacifier Grenades.
As a side note, let me tell you how annoying it is to have a AR corr or blaster and the Pacifier Grenade icon looks a lot like one of the normal attack powers. Sigh.


6: Not giving the Grenades to a League Leader assigned Pacifier
Sometimes the best thing to do is get all or most of the Grenades on one tank, brute, scrapper or whoever is decided will do the job. Nothing is worse than you are beating on Marauder and he gets enraged and you spend precious minutes calling out to everyone..”Who has the grenades???” Followed by the lovely excuse..”I don’t know where to find them, why should I have them? Oh..yeah..i went with the team into the Warehouse…but why should I have them. I didn’t attack any of the boxes.”
I think I have two bald spots due to this happening more often than I would like to remember!


5: Doing the Job given to your team for that Trial
Goes back to having a League chat tab open or at least asking what is going on in team chat. If you and your team are doing the job assigned then things typically go smooth. If not, then just like Malcolm Reynolds on Serenity, you are going to wonder why it never goes smooth.


Breaking up the Trials a bit

BAF:

4: Not Being Patient for the First Attack on Nightstar.
If you are doing the normal safe run where you pull the AV’s to the middle building just north of the Tennis Courts, then let’s all agree that were you pull Nightstar and defeat her, is kind of nice to have her right about the middle of the wall. It helps when she rez’s after defeating Siege to have them both as close together as possible. This helps those that have veng bait, or toggle anchors to have both AV’s grouped up.
If that is how you do it, then let’s all agree to back the pets off and let the puller get her to the middle. Wait just a few seconds to start spamming holds, slows, immobs, and toggles until the League Leader says GO.


3: Escapee Coverage Phase
The League Leader says something like Team 1 and 2 cover the South walkway, Team 3 cover the North. How about you look to see what team you are on, and swagger on over that way. If you have a chat tab open and are trying to pay attention, then that should be a piece of cake. If not I know for sure that the League Leader is doing some loud HEADDESK’ing. Please. Think of the poor defenseless desks.


2: Look for the focus of the AV’s or Adds
If your team is tasked with looking out for the Adds, please for the love of a hell-spawned paranormal investigator, let that be your focus.
If the League Leader chats, “NS getting to low, focus more on Siege”, Let us not have you going over to try attacking the Towers or Just sitting in the Tennis Court contemplating your navel.

1: Leave the Towers alone
Another thing, Please, don’t always run over to turn off the Towers. I know it’s a glowie. And the Dev’s have conditioned us to click on every glowie we can find, but…DON’T. We have an easy Astral Merit for not touching them. Unless the League Leader says to. Then, go ahead and click away.

Lambda:


4: To Gun or not to Gun
Ok. You have cleared the street, the courtyard, now let’s see, I would ask “Are we clearing the Guns?” Answer from me, No! Why, cause for the trouble to kill them, all you get is boss xp. And for two teams, boss xp isn’t really worth it to me.


3: Don’t just hop into an elevator after the Big Bot
So now you enter to defeat the Security team of one giant robot. Things go well, you beat him to scrap metal. Now, this is the tricky part. Go where the League Leader says to go. Normally I see, Team 1 Lab, Team 2 Warehouse. But there is a catch. Be patient Grasshopper!
Wait for a buff with Veng or Destinies, shields etc, then gather around the correct doors. When the League Leader says Go. Then enter. Jumping through the doorways as fast as possible is as bad as Jumping mob to mob around the street. Just don’t do it.


2: PHOTOBOMBING IS FOR NINNIES
Another thing, Let’s not sit back and not help with the lab and warehouse, and instead get ready to photo bomb the Cut Scene. Look, that stuff is funny the first time. But, you know, if you can’t manage to not agro the AV and his mob, upsetting the opportunity to buff up again before the first GO, then, please stop. Again, think of the Desks. *To be clear: If you are a running back from the hospital, in a hurried attempt to get back into the fight, and just happen to get in the Cut Scene, you are good, it is not an issue. If you are found to be doing a dance emote, or the Praetorian Protest emote and have a specific Battlecry, for just the right part of Maruaders' speach, the yes Virginia, you are a NINNIE*


1: Leave the glowies alone.
Outside on the ramp is a good spot to buff up again and transfer the Pacifier Grenades to the person the League Leader says to. If you decide, after both teams have gotten 10 nades, and 10 acids that those mobs covering the glowies are a good idea, Just Sit On Your Hands. Look, every time someone has hopped over to get the mob guarding the acid glowie, Marauder and his mob always, always notices. Which screws up the buff up time, and the initial attack that clears the mobs surrounding him and gives a clear notice of whether or not he is going to Nova Fist? It just seems to be a waste.



The first dozen or so runs of these that all of us were doing, most of us were -3 or -4 to the mobs. We all were excited to get the new shiney and we had collectively a learning curve to overcome. At this point many of us have at least one character that is 50+3 for the trials, with a decent Judgement, Destiny, Lore, and Interface. Many are trying to get the rare and very rares at this point, but there are plenty out there still looking to just unlock things.

I think it might be fair to announce when forming a League just what it is that you are planning to do. Much like KILL MOST ITF's for shard drops, its nice to be told that going in. So if you are planning on get Master of Badges or going for other "needs" like iXP runs of BAF where you purposely let Siege and Nightstar rez to get more iXP from the adds, please let your league members know. Its the polite thing to do.


And most of all, please don't be shy to ask questions. If your team members aren't responding, they may be on TS or Vent, if League chat isn't ready for you, use Broadcast or Local, or Request Channels to try and get peoples attention.

Things could and should run smooth as Willy Wonka's chocolate river, but only if we all take the time and effort to try a little.

This should be required reading.

I've got to find a way to squeeze the "Think of the desks!" comment into my sig...

There. The -4 monkey comment had to go, but... I think it had lived a good life in my sig.

Also... " PHOTOBOMBING IS FOR NINNIES" ...bravo, sir. Bra-vo.

Read my stories!

...
And the NUMBER ONE thing to NOT DO on a iTRIAL...

Refer to it as an iTRIAL!




(hehe, good list, Charnage, I agree!)

An addition:

BE. PATIENT.

Some people are still learning how to run the trials. Don't automatically start swearing or kicking people from the league just because they aren't where you want them to be right when you want them to be there. I cannot TELL you how many leagues I've been on where the league leader/someone else has started calling people names and cussing them out because the person in question:

-did not receive clear instructions
-has never run an Incarnate Trial before
-went afk for a minute to take care of their kids/pets

Be flexible. Expect people to mess up a little bit. We're all only human.

As for the photobombing: especially on teams that go zooming through, getting the pacnades/acids as fast as possible, some of us can't keep up. We either have no stealth, have insufficient stealth, and/or spend so much time running back and forth to the hospital we're not doing much good indoors.

In a situation like this, as long as all the pacnades/acids are still being gotten, who gives a crap if someone wants to be in the cutscene? As long as they don't spring Marauder on the rest of the group prematurely, it's not hurting you or anyone else. If nothing else, they'll get their butt kicked by Marauder and then you have extra Veng bait to buff off of before they hosp.

It's a game. Pull the stick out of your butt and have some fun with it. This is not SRS BSNS.

This needs to be required reading, even if it's just to save those poor, defenseless desks.

Nicely done sir.

Can I also suggest another rule of thumb ?

If you arent the league leader, dont make suggestions on how to run the trial ! ! !

If the leader has already spelled out the course of action they want to take just DO IT THEIR WAY.

For instance...
Leader: Lets do choke points, teams split up into x x and x

Team 2 player: You know I got the badge by doing it 4 to a door. Its easier that way and better. We should try that.
Drives me NUTS !

If you want to do it 4 to a door, fine ! But do it when you build up your own 24 (or 16) player league. Or who knows, maybe thats the course of action the leader wants to take but hasnt spelled it out yet.

I dont have time to respond and take votes on how we are going to do things such as which team kills what AV, which team goes for acid, which team is on adds. You joined the league.. just go along with it. If you want it a specific way, or need a specific badge, either find someone that is doing it the way you want, or BUILD YOUR OWN LEAGUE.

Gahhh.. cant rant about this issue enough !


edit - also - I agree with all the top 10 listed on the OP

Argh, A-Merit is Alignment Merit, not Astral Merit.

I get mad at video games too.

I ran the trials for the first time the other day repeatedly on my main (a Warshade) and did my best to follow instructions but I noticed that with waiting on the leader or team to start in on a group, there were never enough left for me to buff off... Kind of takes all the fun out of playing in the first place since it's a faux pas to skip to the next group for eclipse/mire. At least I got some new stuff though.

Especially when your survivability depends on one of them ><

Another post that should be read again, for those new to the game!...